New Wars are Fought by Old Warriors
by NCRMC
Summary: When the Outcasts destroy the Brotherhood of Steel, the Lone Wanderer and his team travel north in hopes of finding a military base rumored to be housing Pre-War soldiers. Will the Wanderer be able to get help before the Outcasts destroy the rest of the Capital Wasteland?
1. Past Troubles and Red Tides

**This is my very first fanfic, so I hope that you guys like it. Thanks.**

**I do not own Fallout. All rights belong to Bethesda**

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**Chapter 1: Past Troubles and Red Tides**

**Intro**

_War…war never changes. It's been 2 years since the destruction of the Enclave at Adams Air Force Base; the Brotherhood of Steel became the strongest military force in the Capital Wasteland. With the help of the Lone Wanderer, slavery is nonexistent, the raiders have gone into hiding, and the remnants of the super mutants have left D.C. and traveled south. _

_The Lone Wanderer has made many names for himself, after his many travels out in the wastes. Now after liberating the Pitt and stopping an alien invasion, his journey to Point Lookout has proven to be his toughest challenge. That is, until a new threat arises._

_The Brotherhood is currently engaged in a new war against the Armies of Talon Company. Now with increasing threats from the Brotherhood Outcasts, it's only a matter of time before they make a move to take control of the Capital Wasteland. It's up to the Lone Wanderer to put a stop to Casdin and his Outcasts, but in order to stop them, he's gonna have to travel up north to what's left of New York in hopes of uncovering a way to defeat them._

**Ferryboat: June 7, 2279. 9:30 P.M.**

After putting up with all the insane tribals and local cannibals at Point Lookout, there was no force on Earth that would ever get the Lone Wanderer to go back there. He had been traveling for two weeks on the ferry ride back to the Capital Wastes. After he found out that it was Tobar ferryman had cut out a piece of his brain, he figured he'd return the favor.

Eric Daniels was a 21 year old Star-Paladin for the Brotherhood of Steel. His whole life he grew up being a scientist and a doctor like his dad, but he also spent his spare time reading up on military history. Eric was mainly a military type kind of guy. He acted, trained, dressed, thought, and fought like a soldier. He even thought about joining the Vault Security Force at one time. His old childhood friends from Vault 101 would even make jokes and laugh about him being a wannabe grunt. Eric's equipment consisted of a scoped M-16 that was given to him by Lucky Harith, two 9mm Berretta handguns that he received from Paladin Kodiak, a scoped battle rifle with a bayonet on it, and his trusted blade Jingwei's Shocksword. Whenever he wasn't wearing power armor, his clothing of choice was a black Special Forces Combat Armor, a Combat Backpack, and a black Army Beret.

"We'll be back in D.C. in two days." The voice came from Nadine, the redheaded girl whose mother hired Eric to find her. After dealing with Tobar, she became the new owner of the ferry.

"Thanks Nadine." The Wanderer said with some concern in his voice, which Nadine managed to notice.

"Is everything alright?" The young redheaded girl asked.

Eric shook his head with confusion and worry, "I don't know, I just picked up an emergency distress call from the Citadel, but I'm still too far out of range to get a clear signal." He was messing with the dials on his pip-boy trying to adjust the frequency so he could get a better signal, still nothing.

"I'm sure they're fine, they are the Brotherhood after all, and after the help you've given them the past 2 years, I'm sure they can handle themselves." Nadine tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, you're probably right; I should probably get some sleep." Eric told her wishing her a good night before walking off.

After putting his stuff away in a footlocker, he laid down on the cot thinking about that night he returned to Vault 101 to help his closest childhood friend until he slipped into a deep sleep.

_**Flashback: Megaton, December 13, 2277. 8:43 P.M.**_

"Good evening sir, welcome home." Wadsworth, Eric's personal robotic butler greeted him as he walked into his home. He wasn't the only one who was happy to see him as his faithful hound Dogmeat ran up to his master.

"Hey." Eric said to him in a depressing tone, which didn't escape Wadsworth's or Dogmeat's attention.

"Is everything alright sir? You seem a bit down. Oh and your friend Reilly stopped by and dropped off a couple military marked crates. It appears that they're from the local National Guard Armory; she wanted me to tell you that you earned them." He got no response from him. Wadsworth looked over to see Eric holding onto Dogmeat and began sobbing. Dogmeat was heartbroken knowing that his master was upset.

Wadsworth sighed and said "I take it you found your father sir?" causing Eric to look up at him.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Call it intuition. I know it may not be much, but for what it's worth, I'm truly sorry for your loss." Wadsworth told the young man.

Eric managed to perk up a smile at that, "Thank you Wadsworth."

"Oh, and another thing sir, your radio started going off and there was a message for you from a Ms. Almodovar, it seems to be urgent sir."

He jumped up to his feet, "What? When? Never mind, thanks." Eric dashed up to his room with Dogmeat in follow and activated his radio. He felt a little happy to hear Amata's voice, but grew concerned as he listened to the rest of the message. "Shit."

He ran down his stairs over to the crates that Reilly left by his Bobblehead stand and opened the first one to find several different Combat Armor Outfits and Combat Packs. The second one revealed an assortment of .45 Auto Submachine Guns and 308 Battle Rifles. After putting on one of the outfits, he left the weapons in the crates and grabbed his Marksman Carbine and a silenced 10mm pistol. Eric took Dogmeat and began his journey back to his old home.

_**Vault 101 Overseers Office, December 13, 2277. 9:21 P.M.**_

Things were getting heated up between Overseer Alphonse Almodovar and his daughter Amata. The Overseer was accompanied by two of the vault security guards and Allen Mack, while Amata was accompanied by Butch and Christine Kendall.

"How dare you defy me Amata! I am the Overseer of this vault, and you will show me the respect that I deserve young lady!" Alphonse furiously yelled at his daughter.

"You're too mad with power to see that you are doing more harm than good by keeping these people under lockdown." The enraged daughter shouted back in defense. "Of course that's always the way you've been, always so selfish to even care about anybody but yourself!" Amata knew she crossed the line when her father grabbed a police baton from Officer Wilkins and raised it up to her.

Everyone in the room knew the Overseer had enough of his daughter's backtalk, "That's it, it's time you showed me some resp…" Alphonse was cut off when a rifle shot off and the baton flew out of his hand causing everyone to turn to the office entrance. To everyone's shock they saw a man dressed in black Combat Armor pointing a rifle at the overseer. No one could see who the man was due to the mask covering his face.

"How the fuck did you get in here?" Shouted Officer Wilkins as he raised his gun to the unknown assailant, "It doesn't matter now, you're a dead motherfuc…." He was then interrupted by a growling dog tackling him down causing a shot to be discharged from the sidearm. The bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and hit the window looking down into the atrium.

"Hold still Wilkins, I'll shoot it!" Officer Armstrong shouted before getting shot in the leg causing everyone to drop their weapons in fear of the armed man. The Overseer figured he may have a chance to reason with the intruder.

"I don't know who you are, but…" Alphonse and the rest of the group's jaws practically hit the floor when the unknown man removed his face mask to reveal it was Eric. "H-How?" Alphonse was completely at a loss of words. Amata, Butch, and Christine smiled at the sight of their old friend.

Eric smirked, "What's the matter Alphonse? Aren't you thrilled to see a blast from the past?" Eric realized his dog still had Officer Wilkins pinned and he whistled for him. "Come on Dogmeat, get over here!"

The faithful hound obeyed his master and sat down by Eric's feet.

Allen Mack was probably the most furious to see Eric back in the Vault and was about to say something to him, but he beat him to it, "By the look on your face Allen, I couldn't be any more happy to see you either." Eric couldn't help, but smirk to see that he made Allen even more furious.

"Fuck you Daniels, I'm gonna make you pay for what you did my son yo…"

Eric's smirk vanished and he wasn't about to let Mack say another word. "I shot Steve because he was nothing more than a murdering bastard you arrogant fuck!" His tone was ice cold.

Allen wasn't about to take that from someone he figured was a weak piece of trash. He charged right at Eric and took a swing at the younger man, but wasn't fast enough to land a hit. Eric blocked his punch and gave Mack a left uppercut followed by a knee to the gut and Mack fell to the floor. Eric wasn't done there. He picked Mack up by the collar and slammed his right elbow into his jaw breaking 4 teeth. Officer O'Brian walked inside but didn't manage to raise his gun in time as Eric kicked it out of his hand and Dogmeat tackled him down to the ground locking his jaw around O'Brian's neck to keep him immobilized. After Eric finally gave Mack one more solid punch to his face, he let him fall to the ground and quietly moan in pain as he turned his attention back over to the Overseer.

Eric's glare could've given the toughest of men a heart attack, "You and I need to talk Alphonse. Could everyone else wait outside please?" Butch and Christine ran outside afraid to get in Eric's way, followed by Officer Wilkins helping Officer Armstrong out of the room. Dogmeat released O'Brian and let him drag Allen out of the room then also turned his attention to the Overseer.

Amata walked up to Eric with a concerned look on her face, "Eric, what are you going to do?" She asked.

"Don't worry Amata; I just wanna talk with him." He assured her.

"You just wanna talk? That's all" She asked, kind of shocked thinking the wasteland might have changed him.

"That's all" All she did was nod and walked out of the room. Eric proceeded and closed the door for some privacy and then turned back to Alphonse with an ice cold expression. "Take a seat! You and I have a lot to talk about." The scared Overseer complied.

_**30 Minutes Later**_

Everyone was waiting in the atrium and tensions between the rebels and the civilized residents were rising. The two parties were separated while security stood between them making sure things didn't get out of hand. Finally the room went dead silent as the Overseer walked into the room followed by Eric causing several of the residents to gasp at the sight of his return. Eric signaled for Amata to go stand by her father, which caused her to look at him with confusion. Finally, he mouthed "go" for her to stand by him. She slowly walked over to her dad and stood there looking at Eric like he's crazy.

Alphonse began, "Amata, everyone, I have an important announcement to make. After having a little chat with our 'guest' here, I've come to a realization that I've made several mistakes, mistakes that I'm not proud of. I've realized now that I'm no longer fit to be your Overseer." Everyone one in the room was shocked by the news, including Amata. "Furthermore I'm stepping down and handing the position over to my daughter. Amata, will you please step forward?" Amata did and Alphonse began swearing her in as the new Overseer.

Butch went over by Eric and started whispering. "I owe you two now."

Eric looked at him with a confused look, "For what?"

"Well first of all for saving my mom, and second for saving this vault."

Eric's look turned incredulous, "I didn't know you cared about the vault."

Butch smirked, "I don't, but now that Amata is overseer, this is my ticket outta this prison." Eric couldn't help but smirk at that

After it was all said and done everyone in the atrium gave their applause and welcomed Amata as their leader, excluding a few of the residents and the guards. After a few minutes of disbelief Amata finally found her voice. "Thank you father, I promise to do my best to lead the vault." She turned to face everyone else. "Now as you all know, I do plan on opening the vault, but after all the chaos that's been going on, I would like to get the vault back in shape so that we can be prepared for the outside world." Amata turned back to Eric with a serious look, "Eric, I can't even begin to thank you enough for all of your help. All of this wouldn't be possible if you hadn't come back."

Eric smiled at her, "Congrats on becoming the new Overseer."

She nodded at him and said, "Now for my first order of business as Overseer, I require your help once again Eric." Her tone hadn't changed, she was still being serious.

Eric's smile vanished, "Sure, whatever it is, I'd be glad to help out with."

"I know that now, and it's good to know you're still willing to help, which is why it pains me to say this, but many people here still blame you for everything that has happened that night. I'm sorry Eric, but you have to leave the Vault." Amata's voice was trembling when she said that. There were a lot of gasps from the rebels and smiles on the faces of the guards.

Eric and Butch looked at Amata with complete and total disbelief. Eric started to chuckle thinking it was a joke, but when he saw that Amata was dead serious his face went blank while Butch spoke up, "Amata, what are you doing? You're kicking him out of the vault? He just helped us all out and you're gonna exile him for it?"

Amata was shocked that Butch was backing Eric, "I'm doing this for the good of the vault Butch."

"For the good of the vault?" Butch snapped. "If it wasn't for him, the good of the vault wouldn't happen. Of all the people in this room, I never thought you would be so heartless, especially to the one person you considered your closest friend!" Eric was even taken back by Butch defending him.

Before Amata could say anything back a voice rose up from the crowd, "Shut up Butch! That asshole deserves to be kicked out, so good fucking riddance!" To no one's surprise it was Wally Mack that spoke up.

"Hey, fuck you Wally!" Butch spat, "You know what? How about you go run off to your daddy and continue to be his little BITCH!" Butch was tired of Wally's crap, so he wanted to give him what he deserved.

Being that Wally has his dad's temper; he flat out lost it and made a mad dash for Butch. The security guards tried to stop Wally, but he flew right past them and took a swing at Butch. Luckily, Butch managed to step out the way causing Wally to run into the wall. Butch wasted no time taking advantage of this opportunity and started wailing on Wally, beating his face without mercy and started shouting, "LIKE…A…LITTLE…BITCH!" Dogmeat went into a frenzy of barking.

'I hate being the good guy.' Eric thought. Although he was enjoying Wally's beat down, he intervened, pulling Butch off of him, "Calm down Butch, he ain't worth it." After Butch managed to get control of himself, Eric turned back to Amata with a frown on his face. "So that's it then huh? After everything I've done for you, for the vault, you just decide to kick me out. Wow, I can't believe you! You're starting to become your father."

Amata was heartbroken when he said that and he could tell. She wanted to speak, but Eric wouldn't let her, "You know what? That's fine, I don't need you." Before she could get her chance to speak, he turned heel and walked out of the atrium with Butch and Dogmeat following behind. Several seconds later, Amata dashed down the hall after Eric

Officer Gomez was watching as the vault door had fully sealed once again. He turned to see Amata standing there and he handed her something, "He said he doesn't want it anymore." It was a good luck charm she made for Eric when he turned 18. Amata was so upset she couldn't hold back the tears anymore.

Outside the vault Eric let Butch take in the sights of the destroyed landscapes, "So where do I go from here?" Butch asked.

"Well, you can go to Rivet City to work as a hairdresser." Eric replied

"I told you, I'm a barber. Got it?!" Butch spat.

"Whatever I'll take you to Rivet City tomorrow, but tonight, I'm getting drunk." Eric said as they started down towards Megaton.

**Ferryboat: June 8, 2279. 10:00 A.M.**

Nadine was sitting in the captain's chair of the ferry taking a puff on a cigarette and taking in the view of the ocean. She felt calm and relaxed.

"NADINE!" Well, she was until she heard Eric scream, causing her to jump out of her seat.

Eric ran up the steps to the top of the boat. "I need to get back to the Citadel FAST!" His face was pale white and he was out of breath. He had all of his gear and equipment on him like he was going to war.

"What the hell for?" She asked.

"The Pride is under attack!" Eric shouted.

"How do you know?" Nadine asked.

Eric activated his pip-boy and tuned into the Brotherhood Emergency Frequency. From what he could tell, it was Sarah's voice.

"THIS IS SENTINEL SARAH LYONS FROM THE BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL, SENDING AN URGENT DISTRESS CALL TO ANY AND ALL BROTHERHOOD SOLDIERS IN THE CAPITAL WASTELAND. LYON'S PRIDE HAS COME UNDER FIRE FROM THE OUTCASTS AT THE CAPITAL BUILDING. THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM, WE CAN'T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER, WE NEED HELP IMMEDIATELY! THIS MESSAGE WILL KEEP REPEATING UNTIL WE HAVE MANAGED TO PUSH THE OUTCASTS BACK OR IF WE'VE BEEN CAPTU….." The message was suddenly cut off.

"FUCK!" Eric wasn't waiting around any longer. "We need to get there NOW dammit! Eric shouted.

"How? The boat is going as fast as it can." Nadine told him.

"What about the motorboat at the back?" Eric asked.

Nadine was confused when he said that, "Motorboat?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? You're in charge of this ferry, and you're telling me you didn't even know that this termite infested raft has a damn motorboat?" Eric was blistering mad.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I never travel to the back of the boat." Nadine shouted in her defense.

"Really?" Eric grabbed her wrist and walked her to the back of the ferry to show her a motorboat underneath a tarp. "The hell does that look like to you?" He barked.

"Well excuse me." Nadine snapped at him as he uncovered the boat. It was filled with tubs of turpentine. "Is that supposed to be fuel?" Nadine asked.

"Maybe, let's find o..." Eric was cut off when mists of Nadine's blood splattered across his face. '_What the hell?'_ Eric thought as he unslung his scoped battle rifle and saw Nadine's body go limp. "NADINE!" He peered over the railing of the boat and his eyes went wide. There was an Outcast Death Squad operating an old Coast Guard patrol boat. Eric wasted no time in aiming down his scope and fired a round at the sniper that shot Nadine, nailing a direct hit.

The Outcast fell over dead as the bullet pierced through his visor. Outcast Commander Jackson was furious, "DAMMIT, Peters, man that 50! Knock that thing out of commission." He ordered his main gunner.

"Yes sir." Without hesitating Peters took control of the gun and fired on the ferry propellers, then the rest of the ferry. After 15 seconds of nonstop fire, the boat was on its last leg.

Eric looked around to see massive chunks of the boat were missing. He tried to stand up, but realized a bullet grazed his left leg. He made quick work of fixing up his leg by injecting a stimpak and wrapped it up in battle dressing, but he was more concerned when he saw the motorboat in shambles, "Yep, I'm gonna die."

Jackson started moving the patrol boat towards the ferry, "Prepare to board!" This Death Squad was personally chosen by Protector Casdin to kill the Lone Wanderer after he found out it was Eric that killed Defender Sibley and five other Outcasts at their outpost in Bailey's Crossroads. To make things worse he managed to convince Protector McGraw and Defender Morril to rejoin the Brotherhood. This made it personal. As the Outcasts made their way to the ferry, Eric decided the best choice would be to abandon ship.

Without making a sound Eric slipped into the murky ocean water and went for the patrol boat. Peters and a second Outcast boarded the ferry searching it from top to bottom until they managed to find him. Unfortunately for them, he was nowhere in sight. "Sir, he's not on here. He must've gone overboard." Peters said to the commander.

"Well then the only thing left to do is…GAAGHHH!" Jackson shouted, followed by a splash of water. Eric had pulled the Outcast into the water and because of his power armor being too heavy, Jackson sank to the bottom of the ocean eventually drowning. Eric then proceeded to the other side of the ferry to get the jump on Peters.

The other Outcast revealed to be a woman as she spoke up, "Jackson?" Eric's face broke out into a sadistic grin as he recognized the woman's voice. It was Defender Morgan. Eric wasn't so surprised that she'd be part of an Outcast Death squad that was sent to kill him. Ever since the death of her brother by his hands, she'd been waiting to get her revenge.

As Morgan started peering into the patrol boat, Peters was right on the edge of the ferry looking out into the sea. In a split second, Eric shot up from underneath the filthy water, yanking the Outcast off the boat causing him to fall to the ocean floor. Morgan whipped around at the sound of the splash to find that Peters wasn't there. "Peters?" Morgan asked hesitantly. She started moving forward with caution, "What the fuck is going?" She looked down to where Peters was last standing, only to find his holotags.

Morgan heard footsteps coming from behind her and turned as fast as she could only to be met with Jingwei's shocksword being jammed into her Adam's apple. Blood started to gurgle in the back of her throat and her expression behind her helmet turned to mortal fear as she was staring Eric dead in the eyes. It was right then and there, she knew she was finished. "Say hello to your brother for me, BITCH!" Eric snapped with unimaginable hatred. He then activated the shocksword sending an electric current through her whole body, igniting the hydraulics on her power armor and she burst into flames. Eric pulled the sword out of her and made a run for the patrol boat, leaving Morgan's burning body to set the ferry ablaze. After a bit of trial and error, Eric managed to get the boat up and running and he made his way towards the Capital Wasteland, but the fight was far from over.

"Eric started the patrol boat's radio, trying to get ahold of the Citadel. "Citadel, come in over! This is Star-Paladin Daniels. Does anybody read me, over?" After thirty seconds of static, he tried a different tactic and switched the frequency to Rivet City. "Harkness, are you there? It's Eric, pick up the radio!"

"Eric? Man it's good to hear your voice." A reply came through.

Eric was shocked to find out it wasn't Harkness who was talking, "Butch?" What are you doing on the radio? Where's Harkness?" He asked.

"I work for Rivet City Security now, and Harkness took a team of officers with him to the Purifier, our radios have been picking up distress beacons from the Brotherhood Outposts at GNR, the Washington Monument, and the Purifier." Butch told him.

"Tell Harkness I'll meet him at the Purifier.

"Got it just gimme one mom…" The radio was cut off as bullets started to peg the patrol boat.

Eric's eyes damn near popped out of his head as he saw two more Outcast patrol boats converging on him, but he wasn't going down without a fight. He took control of the machine gun mounted on the control console and unleashed hell on the Outcasts. Eric focused his attention on the boats main gunners, hoping he wouldn't have much of a problem dealing with the drivers. He managed to nail a few lucky shots, killing two Outcasts on the first boat, unfortunately things were about to get a little more rough for him. Eric aimed for the gunners on the second boat, but when he pulled the trigger he heard an all too familiar sound, 'CLICK.' "FUCK!" Eric shouted as he realized the gun had jammed on him. With the 50 cal. out of ammo and his gun jammed, Eric kept making sharp turns, trying his best to avoid the hail of gun fire raining down on the boat. When one of the Outcast boats tried to pivot into him, he made a hard left and was on a collision course with the second boat. With no other options left, he put the boat into full throttle and hoped for the best.

"This is a bad idea!" Eric shouted, keeping his head down under the controls while the Outcasts continued to fire on him. "Whoa, SHIIIIIIIIIT!" Until he smashed into the boat, crushing the driver and sending Eric flying 10 feet in the air and crashing in the ocean.

While the Outcasts were trying to get back to their feet, Eric's head popped out of the water. Wasting no time, he primed a plasma grenade, tossed it at the Outcasts and dove back in the water. Five seconds later, both boats exploded into a massive fireball, vaporizing one Outcast and sending the other one into the ocean.

The other Outcast patrol boat circled around to see if any of his comrades survived. When he saw no one was alive he reported back to Fort Independence, "Casdin, this is Patrol 1, I have an update on the Lone Wanderer." Defender Rockfowl never liked Eric because he always figured him to be a glory hound. Speaking of which, snuck his way onto the boat and silently moved towards the unsuspecting Outcast.

Casdin reported back, "Go ahead." Before Rockfowl had a chance to respond, Eric ripped his helmet off and punched the back off his head. "Defender, what's going on?"

Rockfowl whipped around and smirked with glee, "I'm gonna enjoy this." Eric shared the same look the moment he said that.

Casdin was still shouting through the radio, "Dammit Defender, get back on the radio!" Rockfowl ignored his commander and raised his fists up to his face. He figured that he had the advantage since he was wearing power armor. That didn't stop Eric from charging at the readied Defender and tackling him down to his back. Eric started off well, landing six well delivered punches to Rockfowl's face. The tide quickly turned when Rockfowl used his power armor to his advantage and tossed Eric off of him, leaving him hanging off the edge of the boat. Rockfowl's hands found their way around Eric's neck and started to choke the life of him.

"Defender Rockfowl, get off your ass and report now!" Casdin patience was quickly diminishing and started to grow concerned when no one was answering him. Desperately gasping for air, Eric reached down into his left combat boot and pulled out a derringer. He pulled back on the hammer, aimed it into the Defender's head, and pulled the trigger, ending his life. It took all of Eric's strength to push Rockfowl's body off of him. "Defender Rockfowl pick up the radio NOW!" Casdin was still on the radio.

After Eric caught his breath, he picked up the radio and spoke, "Oh I'm sorry Casdin, but Defender Coco is taking a bit of a breather at the moment. Don't worry though; he'll get back to you in the next lifetime, along with Morgan and the other Outcasts you were dumb enough to send after me." The tone of Eric's voice was cold enough to freeze the ocean.

Casdin shot back with an equal tone, "All the more reason to hunt you down, you arrogant little prick! I promise you that when this is all over, I'm gonna take my time ripping each and every last one o' your fucking teeth out, you snot nosed bastard! You're finished Wanderer!"

Eric managed to suppress his laughter, "What makes you think the Brotherhood wont march over your pathetic Outcasts? We have better weapons and technology, you don't stand a chance."

Casdin laughed very maniacally and it sent a chill up Eric's spine. "Eric you naïve fool, I'll admit, Elder Lyons and his army of traitors may have the better equipment and tech, but it still wasn't enough to stop us."

Eric's heart stopped as Casdin said that, "What do you mean _wasn't_?"

Casdin couldn't help but chuckle again, "Come now Eric, just because the Brotherhood has T-51b's and Gauss Rifles, that doesn't increase the chances of 400 Brotherhood Soldiers stopping 5,000 Outcast's does it? I DIDN'T THINK SO!" Casdin snapped. "My main forces have wiped out the Rockland Outpost, destroyed the GNR Radio Plaza, taken control of the Washington Monument, and are now beginning to overrun the Citadel as we speak. Once the Citadel is nothing more than a burning pile of rubble, we'll focus all of our attention on your father's precious purifier."

Eric gritted his teeth at that, "OVER MY DEAD FUCKING BODY!" Eric screamed into the radio. "YOU WANT A WAR CASDIN? I'LL GIVE YOU A FUCKIN' WAR" He was so mad, he was shaking. Before Eric would allow Casdin to finish, he ripped the radio out and started back for the Capital Wasteland. Little did he know, the Brotherhood wasn't the only ones that were under fire from the Outcasts.

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**I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. Before anyone asks, I got the M16 and the 9mm berretta's from Fallout Tactics. So let me know what you thought about the 1st chapter and if there was anything you didn't understand, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. **


	2. Broken Steel

**Sorry I'm a little late for Chapter 2, I got some nice reviews for chapter 1 so I thank all those who did. I also got some people asking me where the Outcasts got 5,000 soldiers, well if you read through chapter 2, all questions will be answered. Alright I'll shut up so you can read.**

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**Chapter 2: Broken Steel**

The Outcasts were on the offensive dealing a great deal of damage to the Brotherhood. Their first target was the home of the Good Fight's Preacher.

**GNR: June 8, 2279. 1 hour prior.**

More than 200 Outcasts were now entering Chevy Chase and heading straight for Galaxy News. The outside was guarded by several Brotherhood Sentry Bots and Mister Gutsies while Knight Dillon and the other Brotherhood Soldiers were setting up explosives throughout the building's interior. Knight Sergeant Wilkes was making sure everyone was ready to evac once the shit hit the fan. One Sentry Bot appeared, "Sir, hostiles have entered the school and are closing in." The Sentry warned Wilkes. "Orders?"

Wilkes put his power helmet back on and started giving the Sentry orders, "Hold the Outcasts off for as long as you can, we need time to get everyone out! Have the other Sentries lay down a suppressing fire and then while you've got them pinned, send the Gutsies in and start flushing them out!" Wilkes saw Dillon approach.

"Understood sir." The Sentry Bot turned and proceeded back outside.

Wilkes turned to face Dillon, "Have the charges been set?" He asked.

"Yes sir, here's the trigger." Dillon said as he handed Wilkes the detonator.

"Good, have the Initiates start evacuating the civilians to the Vertibirds, then start reinforcing the lobby!" Wilkes wanted to give the Outcasts an ass kicking they wouldn't soon forget.

Dillon nodded, "What about you?" The Knight asked his commander

"I'm gonna get Three Dog out of here. Tell Knight Finley and his squad to start powering up the Vertibirds." The Sergeant said. Without arguing, Dillon turned back to the others and began preparing for the attack while Wilkes ran up to the studio to get Three Dog.

As Wilkes entered Three Dog's room, the sounds of laser and plasma fire started to fill the plaza. The Sergeant peered out a window to see the Sentries and Gutsies engage the Outcasts. Wilkes then ran to see Three Dog in his studio booth giving his last broadcast.

"_Hello Capital Wasteland."_ Three Dog wasn't speaking in his usual spirit lifting mood, he was being nothing but serious. _"I wish I had some good news to give you, but I don't. Those bastards that broke off from the Brotherhood and formed the Outcasts have declared war on the wasteland and have begun attacking GNR. This will be the very last broadcast that I send out to all of you. I just wanted to thank everyone across the wastes for helping me fight "The Good Fight."_ Three Dog paused for a moment wiping a tear from his eye. He sniffled as he resumed talking. _"And I want to give a special thanks to our Wasteland Messiah, the Lone Wanderer. Eric if you can hear me, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being the protector of the Capital Wastes and for being the greatest of friends."_ Three Dog couldn't hold himself together anymore as he began to sob. _"I want you all to listen to what I'm about to say. The Outcasts aren't going to stop here; they're just like Eden and the Enclave. They'll keep attacking us until they've wiped us all out and I know that you'll want to fight them, but I'm gonna ask you not to. The time to fight will come, but for now, do whatever you have to do to survive. Live to fight another day… I received a notice from the Brotherhood saying that all settlements should evacuate to the safety of the Jefferson Memorial, anyone that tries to stay and fight won't stand a chance." _Three Dog and Wilkes could hear the explosions enter the building lobby. Wilkes ran to the window to see that the Sentries and Gutsies have been reduced to piles of scrap and the Outcasts were now entering GNR. Wilkes signaled for Three Dog to speed the broadcast up. _"Well everyone, the choice is up to you. You can stay and fight, or you can make your way for the Purifier and live to fight another day. It looks like that's it, thanks for making GNR the greatest radio station in the Capital Wasteland. This is Three Dog signing off with one last OOOWWWWWWWW! Goodbye and God bless." _And just like that, GNR permanently went silent.

Wilkes walked into the booth and took off his power helmet looking at Three Dog with sympathy. "Three Dog." The upset radio DJ looked up at the Sergeant. "We have to go. The Outcasts will be up here any second now." The sounds of gunfire could still be heard.

Three Dog stood up, "Right, you should get goin' then." Wilkes looked at him like he was going mad, but before he could object, Three Dog walked past him to open a small floor safe and handed him a set of keys and an enclosed file. "Get those to Eric, I'm staying put." Three Dog then grabbed a chair and set it at the top of the stair case, pulled out a 10mm pistol and loaded it with armored piercing bullets as he sat down.

"But Three Dog…" Three Dog held his hand up before Wilkes could finish.

"Like I told Eric, GNR is my baby, and you never abandon your baby Wilkes. I want you to get those to him. What you're holding in your hands may be the only key to stopping the Outcasts and no one but Eric is allowed to see that file and don't lose any of those keys. Do you understand?"

Wilkes nodded and saluted Three Dog with the highest of respect, "It's been an honor sir."

Three Dog returned a salute of his own. "The honor is mine, now hurry and leave the detonator here!"

Without saying another word, Wilkes handed him the detonator and stormed out the back door heading towards the already activated Vertibirds.

"Move your asses dammit!" Knight Finley was waving Wilkes and the remainder of Dillon's squad over to Vertibird 1. As Finley opened the hatch to let the squad in, he asked his CO, "Where's Three Dog?"

"He's staying behind. He told us to get out of here." Wilkes said as he stepped into the Vertibird. Finley couldn't believe that Three Dog was going to stay, but he wasn't about to go against his orders as he followed the Sergeant into the bird. Three minutes later, the Vertibirds were in the air and en-route to the Jefferson Memorial.

Three Dog lit up a cigar and put it in his mouth as he aimed his pistol down the stairs. An explosion blew the door clean off its hinges. Seconds later, a team of Outcasts started pouring into the room and Three Dog began shooting. Aiming for the head the soldiers started to fall one by one. He was up to six Outcasts until one of them landed a lucky shot in his arm causing him to let out a shriek of pain, but Three Dog refused to give in and continued shooting his gun until the mag was empty. A second laser beam nailed him in the upper torso as he reloaded, causing him to fall to the floor. Three Dog crawled over to the table and grabbed the detonator. He turned to see several Outcasts surround him with their laser rifles pointed directly at his head. One of them spoke up. "Any last words?"

Three Dog did nothing except smile as he pulled the trigger sending him out with a BANG! The building began to fall apart around the Outcasts sending them all flying across the rooms until finally, the building collapsed to the ground killing everyone inside.

The Outcasts outside looked at the devastation in complete shock as most of their force was dead. The Outcast in charge looked to his communications officer and walked over to him. He grabbed the radio and smiled as he spoke, "Sir, we've accomplished our mission. GNR is down."

There was a moment of silence before he got a reply, _"Excellent, report back to base for further orders."_

"Yes sir, heading back now." The commander handed the radio back to his officer. "Move out!"

**The Washington Monument Outpost: June 8, 2279. 45 minutes prior.**

The Paladins in charge of guarding the outpost were ready to take on the Outcasts as they listened to Three Dog's final broadcast. "Do you think we should head for the Jefferson Memorial?" One Paladin asked.

"No, the Outcasts aren't going to take this outpost." The other replied. Before the other could reply, a missile landed in front of the sand bag barriers, "Contact two o Clock High!" The Paladins began firing their Gatling Lasers at an Outcast Missile Squad attacking from a building rooftop. Two more Paladin Guards came up from behind the monument, but before they could engage, they were immediately ripped to shreds by over a dozen Outcasts wielding miniguns coming out of the subway. Several other Outcasts began climbing out of the trenches and unloaded several volleys of laser fire on the Paladins guarding the entrance, vaporizing one and decapitating the other. A Death Squad formed up at the entrance terminal and entered in the password. The Outcasts raised their rifles down towards the elevator and were cut down by three Sentry Bots guarding the inside of the outpost. Their victory was cut short when a mini nuke detonated behind the Sentries. Moments later, the Outcasts looked around only to find the Sentries were nothing more than melted puddles of metal. After scanning the rest of the compound, the Outcasts took down the Brotherhood flag and raised their flag up high as a sign of victory.

An Outcast Officer pulled out his radio and reported in, "The Washington Monument is ours, setting up shop."

A reply came through. _"Good, your first set of orders is to exterminate those brainless zombies at Underworld."_

"Excuse me?" A raspy voice came out of nowhere. The Outcasts turned to see Willow, the Sentry for Underworld, "What the hell are you idiot tourists gah!" Willow became a mere stain of blood as a minigunner sprayed her with a storm of bullets.

When the minigun's motor ceased the Outcasts let out a laugh of conceit. The Commander appeared. "You all know what to do." She said pointing to the Museum of History. They all made their way towards the building and began to purge the city of ghouls.

On the roof of the Museum of Technology a group of soldiers wearing forest green combat armor saw what just unveiled. The leader stood and looked to the others. "We better warn Reilly. Let's go!" The group of soldiers got up and headed for the Ranger Compound.

**Super Duper Mart: June 8, 2279. 15 minutes prior.**

A month after Vault 87 was destroyed; the Brotherhood cleaned the raiders out of the Super Duper Mart and turned it into a fortress. The building was fortified by concrete walls at least ten feet high with four guard towers on all four sides. The rooftop was patrolled by more than a dozen snipers and missile launchers, four Paladins stood guard at the entrances and the outside of the base was patrolled by Sentry Bots. A field hospital was set up in the South section of the parking lot and a group of Initiates were doing physical training along the Northern section. No hostiles ever traveled near the base because of the two Howitzers the Brotherhood set up. Well, at least not until the Outcasts grew a set.

"HOLY SHIT!" A Brotherhood Scout shouted as he spotted a massive wave of Outcasts to the North and Northeast. He looked down to one of the guards, "Get Paladin Bael up here stat!" The guard ran into the building and came back out two minutes later with Paladin Bael. "Sir we've got a situation, you better get up here and see this."

Bael ran over to a ladder and climbed to the roof and ran over to the scout, "Alright, what's the fucking problem?" The scout quickly passed his binoculars to Bael. When he saw what the scout was talking about, the binoculars fell out of his hands and he felt like his heart fell to his feet. "Jesus Christ!" Bael heavily breathed as he yelled out to the gun crews, "Get those Howitzers ready to fire!" As the gunners were loading shells into the barrels they all heard a whistling sound. Bael turned over to the rest of the snipers who heard the same thing. "Do you hear that?"

"CANNON FIRE!" One of the snipers shouted as he dropped to the floor. The rest of the group went prone as a shell hit the ground less than five feet from the base, followed by another. The Initiates scrambled for their weapons and ran for the ramparts on the wall to combat the Outcasts.

Bael got back to his feet, "RETURN FIRE!" An artillery shell wiped out the first Howitzer while the second one managed to fire off a shell of its own before being destroyed. "CHRIST!" He looked over the edge of the building to see his Second in Command, Paladin Hoss. "Get on the radio and alert the Citadel! We need air support!"

"INCOMING!" A sniper yelled as one of the shells struck the roof and sent Bael flying to the ground. His power armor managed to absorb most of the impact, but his left leg was shattered. Several Knights and Paladins were sprinting out of the store and one of them stopped to assist Paladin Hoss in helping a barely conscious Bael to his feet and towards the base entrance. The Outcasts were less than a hundred feet away from the compound.

The Knights and Paladins were scoring direct hits on them, but there was no way that they could hold them off. The guard tower overlooking the Chryslus Building was blown apart by a hail of rockets. Knight Artemis staggered through the main entrance with his left arm missing. He was one of the guards posted in the tower. As he fell to the floor blood started spewing out of his shoulder. One of the Paladins hopped down from the south guard tower and picked him up over his shoulders. He turned to see a barrage of artillery slam into the Super Duper Mart reducing it to a pile of debris and knocking a lot of soldiers off their feet.

"Hoss, what do we do now?" The Paladin asked.

"Fall back to Wilhelm's Wharf!" Hoss said as he and the other Paladin started moving a now unconscious Bael. The Paladin carrying Artemis made a break for the trader's shack tailing behind Hoss. The rest of the Knights, Paladins, and Initiates tried to retreat, but didn't make it far as the Outcasts opened fire on them with .50 caliber machine guns.

The Outcasts lead by Protector Mullen; all wore Advanced Power Armor Mk II painted in red and black and were marching towards the Citadel. The ground was rumbling as massive metal treads rolled over the deceased Brotherhood Soldiers, crushing their already lifeless bodies.

Although they didn't know it, the Outcasts were being watched by two snipers in power armor. Knight Captain's Colvin and Dusk were aiming through the scope of their rifles. Dusk shook her head in disbelief as she just saw the Outcasts had walked over one of their most fortified bases in the region. "Where the hell did the reinforcements come from?" She asked Colvin.

"I'm more concerned about where they got their armor from. As long as they have all that firepower in their possession we don't stand a chance." Colvin replied as he pulled out his radio. "Edwards come in!"

Operations Officer Edwards was in charge of monitoring the status of all bases and scouts on patrol. _"Go ahead Colvin."_ The Officer replied.

"I need to speak with Rothchild with the upmost urgency." Colvin said as he removed his power helmet.

"_Roger that, give me five minutes!"_

"You better make it three, we don't have much time."

Dusk spoke up, "Have you heard anything from the others?"

Colvin shook his head. "Not since we escaped the Capital Building, but I'm not so worried about them, after all Gallows knows how to handle himself and since Kodiak's with him, they'll be fine. I'm more concerned about the Sentinel, Glade, and Vargas."

A voice came through the radio, but it wasn't Rothchild. "Colvin, Dusk? I'm gonna kick your asses for breaking off from the rest of us." Dusk smirked as she recognized who the voice it belonged to.

"Nice to hear from you too Sentinel." Colvin said. Their concentration was interrupted by the sound of gunfire going off in the East. "Listen you don't have much time, but there are a large number of Outcasts heading for the Citadel. If I were you, I would start the evacuation."

"_The evacuation started 10 minutes ago, after the Washington Monument was overrun." _Sarah told them. The two didn't know about the Monument or GNR. _"The Outcasts are killing every Brotherhood Soldier they come across; anyone they come across will suffer the same fate. Listen, I want both of you to stay out of sight and try to find Eric. He might be in Megaton. If you can, get to the Purifier and wait for him there."_

Dusk grabbed the radio. "What about the others Sentinel? Where are they?"

They could hear Sarah sigh on the other end. _"Vargas is dead, Glade's assisting Jensen at the Purifier, and Gallows and Kodiak are scouting outside of Springvale…Guys I have to get the Scribes to the Vertibirds. Be careful. Find Eric. Stay Alive!" _Sarah ordered.

Colvin replied, "Yes ma'am." The radio let off static signaling that communications went offline. Colvin slid his helmet back on and turned to Dusk. "We better go." Dusk nodded and they both darted off towards Megaton.

* * *

Paladin Hoss and his team made their way to the collapsed bridge hoping to get to the Jefferson Memorial. Even though they were a good distance away from the Outcasts, they knew that they wouldn't make it far once the Outcasts run up the ramp of the intact part of the bridge and fired on them from there. When Hoss and the others reached the top, they were surprised to be met by a bunch of friendly faces. A team of 20 Rivet City Security Officers armed with missile launchers, miniguns, and fatmen motioned for them to get behind the sand bag barriers they set up.

As Hoss and the rest of the Paladins joined the security team, the Outcasts opened fire on the overpass. The three Officers carrying the fatmen aimed at the hostile force and catapulted the mini nukes at the building that gave them cover, causing chunks of concrete to fall on some of the soldiers. They reloaded and fired another set of nukes at the Outcasts that ran out in the open, practically cremating them. Four medics came over with stretchers in their hand and asked for Hoss to set Bael down on one stretcher, and Artemis on the other. The Medics hauled the wounded off to their field hospital with Hoss and the two Paladins in tow, while the minigunners fired on the Outcasts keeping them pinned so the others could escape. A few Outcasts went down, thinking they could take the Officers out alone.

After 2 minutes, one of the Security Guards raised the helmet's visor. Officer Lepelletier was in charge of Rivet City's Elite Guard. They were considered Harkness's toughest soldiers. Lepelletier wasn't going to stand around another second as she faced the others. "Run!" They immediately took off across the bridge, running as fast as they could until something caused them to lose their balance and fall to the ground.

The Guard's all turned to see plumes of smoke rise from the side of the bridge. Officer Davis ran over to the edge of the overpass and pulled out his binoculars to get a better view of what was attacking. A mixture of cannon and artillery fire slammed into the bridge's support beams causing it to buckle beneath him. Davis lost his equilibrium and plunged over to meet a pile of boulders at the bottom with a sickening thud. The rest of the guards got back to their feet and ran like hell. Without looking back, the bridge was completely destroyed as the rest of it fell to the water.

Paladin Jensen, Commander of the Purifier Security Force made sure Lepelletier and her squad was across the bridge before activating the Enclave pylons that surrounded the Jefferson Memorial, putting up the energy barrier to keep the Outcasts out. In order to prevent any harm coming to the clean water, additional pylons were set up around the tidal basin. One Paladin raised a 10mm pistol and fired a round at the energy field to see if it worked. The zap sound it gave off filled the Brotherhood Officers with satisfaction.

Jensen smirked as he looked to Harkness. "I fucking told you so! There's no way in hell those fucks will get in here now. The only way in or out is now by Vertibird."

"Alright, you were right." Harkness said as he raised his hands in defeat.

Scribe Bigsley came up from behind them and barked at them with his usual tone of resentment. "Yeah! Woohoo, yay, alright! WOO FUCKING HOO!" Bigsley's tone turned into full-fledged hate. "IN CASE YOU DIPSHITS FORGOT, THE OUTCASTS HAVE FUCKING ARTILLERY. I SHOULDN'T BE SO SURPRISED THOUGH SEEING AS HOW YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKING IDIOTS! I MEAN COME ON, DID YOU EVERY STOP TO THINK…" Bigsley was really starting to piss Harkness and Jensen off. Bigsley started mocking Jensen's voice. _"Oh hey, I'm Paladin Jensen and maybe instead of killing things for once, I should start thinking of strategy…_" The Scribe went back to his normal shouting voice. "GOD YOU ARE SO PATHETIC, I SWEAR I'VE NEVER MET A MORE…" Bigsley was cut off as Jensen's hands violently wrapped ahold of his neck. If looks could kill, Bigsley would've had a heart attack from Jensen's venomous glare.

"Will you shut your goddamn mouth already? I swear, toddlers don't bitch and complain as much as you!" Jensen wasn't going to put up with Bigsley's attitude any longer. He released his grip on the Scribe's neck and pulled out a remote and hit a red button. Out of nowhere, a small central pylon emanated from the top of the Memorial and an energy field linked with the rest of the pylons, forming a dome shaped barrier over the Jefferson Memorial, keeping it safe from artillery fire. Everyone inside was astonished at the sight of the energy dome. Jensen looked back over to Bigsley and shoved him to the ground. "Unlike a certain FUCKING CRYBABY!" Jensen spat. "I always plan one step ahead." He hit the green button on the remote deactivating the dome, and walked over to the field hospital Rivet City set up leaving Bigsley on his ass.

Everyone froze in their tracks as explosions began to echo in the air. Harkness's eyes were platters when he turned to look at the Citadel. He nudged at Jensen to focus his attention at the Citadel. Paladin Glade walked out a tent and took a sharp intake of breath as he saw what was transpiring at the Brotherhood Headquarters.

**The Citadel: June 8, 2279. 10:33 A.M.**

The Outcasts had mopped up all Brotherhood bases in the region, leaving the Citadel and the Purifier all that remains. The energy fields made it impossible to launch an offensive against the Purifier. Now every Outcast was making their way for the Citadel. The outer defenses consisted of 2 Sentries and 4 Paladins at the main gate. The upper defenses consisted of several snipers, a .50 caliber machine gun emplacement, and a few operational laser turrets.

Paladin Stein, a Brotherhood Soldier presumed dead then declared Honorable Death in Combat, was actually forced into slavery at the Pitt. When the Lone Wanderer was talking with Ashur after winning his fights in arena, he told him that he captured him from the Grisly Diner and forced him to do the hardest of labor in the refinery. After Eric began the purge of Uptown, Eric got Stein out and escorted him back to the Citadel.

When Stein saw the Outcasts on the bridge overpass, he ran to the intercom to alert Elder Lyon's. "Outcasts closing in, prepare for combat!" He didn't know that the base was starting the evacuation. Three Vertibirds were powering up and preparing to fly the Elder out of DC as far as they could go. The main gate opened and more than 50 Paladins came running out finding cover behind the boulders and steel ramparts aiming their Gauss Rifles at the overpass.

Paladin Gunny approached Stein wielding a missile launcher over his shoulder. Before he could say anything one of the Sentry Turrets in the Citadel parking lot exploded. Gunny grunted, "I was gonna say they're also coming from behind us, never mind now!" The rest of the Paladins came out and joined their brothers and sisters on the Northern Line, followed by a dozen Gutsies moving to reinforce the South.

There were over a hundred Outcasts coming from the Arlington Library Outpost. Scribe Yearling and her Brotherhood guards were almost at the Citadel with more than 800 pre-war books that were given to them by the Lone Wanderer, until they were gunned down by an Outcast Gatling Squad.

"What do we do sir?" Stein asked Gunny.

"Hold them off until Elder Lyon's can escape." Gunny replied. "Then we're on our own from there.

Stein couldn't believe his ears, before he could protest a missile slammed into one of the balcony guards, literally blowing him apart. The battle for the Citadel had begun! All Paladins opened up a volley of Gauss fire on the Outcasts behind the boulders across the way. The .50 caliber machine gun and the laser turrets opened up on the overpass trying to keep them from firing on the Paladins while the snipers started taking potshots at the Defenders on the ground.

The Brotherhood's defensive strategy was going their way for the first 10 minutes of the battle. The few remaining Knights and Gutsies on the South side of the building however, didn't last more than 3 minutes. The Outcasts slowly moved up behind the Paladins waiting for their opportunity of surprise. It came when the Outcasts from the front started pouring out of the abandoned raider camp underneath the overpass by the hundreds. They charged for the main gates, but stopped at the bridge and ceased fire. The Brotherhood immediately ceased fire as well with the looks of confusion behind their power helmets as the Outcasts all turned around to see one of their main weapons drove onto the field. Paladin Gunny's jaw hit the floor at the sight of the metal monster, but wasn't going to let it get one shot off and fired his missile at it, taking out its cannon. He smiled with glee before he and several other Paladins, including Stein were torn apart by the Gatling Lasers from behind them. One Paladin's insides fell to the ground as he turned to try and fight back; his liver was completely disemboweled as the laser bursts melted through his flesh. The .50 caliber machine gunner began firing again on the Outcasts coming over the bridge and taking limbs off of the assaulting soldiers and blasting hunks of armor and organs to pieces before the Outcasts fired a volley of missiles on the gunner's nest. The snipers quickly suffered the same fate. Body's from both sides plagued the outside of the Citadel.

As the Outcasts were about to storm the inside of the building they heard the sounds rotors off in the distance. The Brotherhood had dispatched every operable Vertibird that escaped the Outcasts started flying in from the Jefferson Memorial and Rockland. There was a total of 20 Vertibirds.

One of the Vertibirds emptied an entire rocket salvo on the Outcasts as he communicated with the other pilots. "Alright ladies, we got the enemy in our sights. Get ready for some fireworks." The other birds opened up with their rockets and Gatling Laser Turrets, wiping whole squads out of existence. The pilot got on his radio, "Sentinel Lyon's you better get the Elder out of here while you still can, we don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep them from getting inside."

There was a response. _"Roger, good luck to you." _Sarah said as she and the other two pilots got their birds off the ground.

The Pilot responded, "Good luck to you too Sentinel, Steel be with you!"

The Elder's Vertibirds were within sight of the Outcasts and that was just what they were hoping for. A squad of Outcasts wielding Tesla Cannons released several beams of energy on the airborne squadron.

The Elder's escort bird shouted on the radio. _"IT'S AN AMBUSH! ALL BIRDS BREAK RIGHT…" _The pilot was silenced when his Vertibird exploded into a massive fireball and fell from the sky. All the other birds tried to break off, but it was no use. They were all doomed, including Elder Lyon's personal Vertibird. The right engine took a direct hit and swirled out of control before crashing into the building, landing on its side in the Bailey. Elder Lyon's tried crawling out of the wreckage, but couldn't move any further. Sarah climbed out of the cockpit of the down Vertibird and was bleeding profusely down the side of her face. Her left arm was dislocated and she tried her best to stay conscious. The Outcasts started charging through the Bailey and surrounded the area; Sarah pulled out a laser pistol and shot at an Outcast that took off his helmet, burning a hole through his temple. All Outcasts focused their attention to her and before they fired off a round, a blue bolt of fire hit right in the chest knocking her to the ground.

The Elder screamed in anguish, "SARAH!" he tried his hardest to hold back the tears, but he couldn't. He was kicked to his back and saw a familiar grin that had the look of evil in his eyes.

"Awwww, such a shame isn't it Owyn? Because of you, your daughter, your own flesh and blood is dead. Happy for what you've created? Because I am." He said no more and raised his blaster to Owyn's head and discharged it. The great Owyn Lyon's had died at the hands of Protector Casdin. The Outcasts started moving through into the Citadel Laboratory and their hopes had risen.

Protector Mullen had ran back out of the lab and over to Casdin. "Sir, it's still here. We can use it to break through the energy barriers at the Memorial."

Casdin smiled. "Good, Liberty Prime is ours now…" He was interrupted by Sarah, surprisingly still alive from the charge of an Alien Blaster.

"Oh I don't think so traitor." She pulled out a detonator and squeezed the trigger before falling over dead. The trigger detonated several C-4 Charges set up on Liberty Primes fusion core and throughout the rest of the lab. Seconds later the entire section of the Citadel collapsed and sent Casdin and several others off of their feet.

An unknown figure in what appears to be a modified Advanced Power Amor Mk II walked over and helped Casdin up off the hard concrete. "What are you going to do now Protector? Your only chance to destroy the Purifier is no longer an option." The power armored Warrior said.

Casdin retrieved his helmet and slid it back on. "The Purifier will have to wait…for now. Now we focus on the rest of the region. Get your men some R&R! They deserve it after all. Tomorrow we make our move against the settlements and we make the Capital Wasteland ours." Casdin looked over to the soldier, "I still can't thank you enough. What did you say your name was?" He asked.

The soldier took off his helmet and revealed a massive scar running down from the left side of his face. "Just call me Warrior."

**Ferry Docks: June 8, 2279. 8:47 P.M.**

The night was dark and foggy when Eric arrived back at the docks in Coast Guard Patrol Boat he took from the Outcasts and found Nadine's mother floating face down in the water. Eric dove in and dragged her body to the shore; her throat was sliced wide open and by the looks of it, she died before she even hit the water. He looked over to see a dead Brotherhood Initiate lying next to three dead Outcasts. Out of respect, Eric shut both of their eyes and said a small prayer for them. Not many people know that he believes in God seeing as how he's killed more people and mutants than almost everyone combined out it in the wastes.

His heart dropped to floor when the fog cleared and he saw the massive columns of fire rising over the Citadel walls. He took off in a dead sprint towards the now destroyed Brotherhood HQ. He ran past the bodies of Scribe Yearling and her bodyguards, seeing most of the pre-war books were piles of ashes. He made it past the piles of destroyed Mr. Gutsies and dead Knights. When he got to the main gate he became physically ill at the sight of all the butchered Paladins and Outcasts and the stench of death didn't make things any better. Crashed Brotherhood Vertibirds were burning throughout the landscape and chunks of the Citadel were still falling from the balcony guard posts.

Eric was prepared for the worst as he walked through the doors into the Bailey and saw dead Initiates and Knights in the training are, but what really caught his attention was the body of an elderly man wearing a blue robe. Eric ran over to Elder Lyons to find a burn mark covering most of his face, he knew it was hopeless, but he still checked to see if the man had a pulse, but there wasn't any to be found. Eric started to panic and started shouting one name. "Sarah? Sarah? SARAH? SARAH? SARAH?" After three minutes of shouting, his worst fears had been realized. He slowly walked over to the blonde haired Sentinel and fell to his knees. Eric's eyes began to water and he lifted her lifeless body into his arms and gently shaking her as if she were asleep. "Sarah…Sarah?" Eric tried to fight the reality with denial, but reality finally hit him. The tears began to fall freely down his face as he held Sarah really close to him and was muttering to himself in a sad tone. "No, no, no, no, not her. Please…not her. Please don't do this to me, PLEASE!" He was breathing like he couldn't catch his breath. He managed to calm down after a while and he gently set her back down, moved a strand of hair from her face and planted a soft kiss against her forehead. "Steel be with you Sarah." Eric did have feelings for her though he couldn't say that he loved her as he saved those feelings for someone else.

Eric stood up and looked around at the sight of destruction left by the Outcasts. He was mortified at it all and knew that the Outcasts would return to collect their dead and desecrate the Brotherhood's bodies, especially Sarah's and her fathers. He picked Sarah's body up over his shoulders and ran outside to find a nice spot to bury her. He pulled out a small fold up shovel and dug two graves. After he was finished, he placed both bodies in and removed their holotags and filled their graves and said a prayer for them. With it all said and done Eric went around and started collecting the holotags off his fallen brothers and sisters.

Out in the distance, he could hear someone call his name. "Eric….Eric….Eric!" He could hear them getting closer until he saw someone through the smoke. 'Butch?' he thought. He wasn't alone either as he saw Harkness, and five former Outcasts, two of them being McGraw and Morril.

"What the fuck are you guys doing here? It's not safe to be out in the open…Wait, how'd you know I was here?" Eric asked them.

Harkness came up, "We watched you arrive in that boat of yours and we wanted to see if you were alright. The Outcasts have been fucking the whole wasteland up. I had to order Butch and the other guards to evacuate Rivet City when some of the Knights came under fire from a few scouts coming out of Anacostia."

Butch spoke. "Those bastards came in a bombed the shit out of the caravan stop. Rivet City's now under their control." Butch looked around at the carnage that was left behind. He felt ill as he saw the upper half of a Paladin missing its lower half.

"What I want to know is how the fuck did Casdin get so many people to help with his whole wasteland takeover plan?" He was staring specifically at McGraw.

"Eric, believe me when I tell you that even we don't know how. We told Casdin to go fuck himself when we deserted the Outcasts; you were there when we said it." McGraw said

"Yeah, I remember that. The look on Casdin's face was priceless." Eric said with a smirk. "Look we don't have much time guys. The Outcasts will be back and I need to get all the holotags of the dead Brotherhood. I've already got everyone's tags inside and at the parking lot, just help me with these guys. After that we head to Megaton and start evacuating them." Everyone just nodded and went around collecting the tags before leaving.

**Vault 101 Overseers Office: June 8, 2279. 9:03 P.M.**

Amata was finished typing some reports into her personal terminal when she heard the office door open. She turned to see Allen Mack, his son, and three Vault Security Guards walk in. "Oh my God, what the he hell did they do now?" Amata asked the Officers.

Allen smiled bitterly, "It's not what I've done, it's what I'm about to do." He pulled out a 9mm pistol and pointed it at Amata. "Taylor, take her into custody." Officer Taylor appeared from behind him and placed Amata under arrest. "You are relieved from your duties as Overseer. I will be taking over from now on." Mack said venomously.

Amata couldn't believe what was transpiring. "This is mutiny you fucking asshole…" Amata received a slap across the cheek from Wally Mack.

"Shut up bitch and respect your rightful Overseer!" Wally spat.

A voice came from out of nowhere. "Rightful?" Everyone saw Amata's father Alphonse walk in the room. "You're taking everyone in the vault hostage! What are you going to do now? Use that as leverage to bring the boy back?" Alphonse knew that Allen still carried vengeful hate against Eric after attacking him two years back.

Mack sat down in the overseers chair as he started talking. "No, as much as I would love to get my hands on that little shit, no, I intend to close the vault doors for good."

Officer Wilkins turned and looked at Mack disbelievingly. "I thought that was the plan? I even got some people from the outside to help."

Mack shot up with anger. "You brought in _OUTSIDERS_?" Mack spat at that word like it was a disease. "HOW FUCKING STUPID ARE YOU? BRINGING OUTSIDERS INTO MY HOME! IF YOU WANT TO KILL HIM YOU GO OUT THERE AND DO IT YOURSELF!"

"Sorry Allen, but that'd take too long." He pulled out his 10mm pistol and shot Mack right between the eyes then Wally. Both of them fell over dead as Wilkins ordered the other guards to get Amata and Alphonse to the holding cells.

A few minutes later a man wearing black combat armor with a white symbol on his chest plate walked into the room. "Now that's one good looking broad. You think that my men could have some fun with her when we kill her boyfriend."

"I don't care what you do with her, just as long as you bring me that son of bitch so I can put a bullet in him!" Wilkins told the man.

"Alright so then how does this benefit us? We're mercenaries you know, and we expect payment." The man said rubbing his fingers together asking for money.

Wilkins walked over and looked out the window into the atrium and spoke. "It's simple really. You told me that there's a bounty on his head. So we use the hostages to draw him back. Your men capture him and bring him to me. I kill him and you take his body back to whoever put the contract on his head and you get paid. Sound good enough?"

The man just smiled as he lit a cigarette in his mouth and pulled out a radio. "Mission is a go." Suddenly more than 30 Talon Company Mercenaries stormed into the atrium and started setting up a trap for the Lone Wanderer. Wilkins smiled at the sight. _'There's no way he's getting out of this alive.'_

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**Well the Brotherhood has arrived from the Midwest and are helping the Outcasts and Wilkins is working with Talon Company to try and kill the Lone Wanderer. Will they succeed? Not likely, but be prepared for Chapter 3 if you liked the first two chapters. Let me know how I did, I'm hoping not too bad. Review if you liked it. If not, oh well. Also, let me know if I need to fix anything for this chapter and I will see you all again when I bring up Chapter 3.**


	3. From Their Cold Dead Talons

**Man, I'm sorry I haven't got this posted sooner, but I've been busy fighting fires and I also went down to Arizona to pay my respects the hotshot crew. I'm sorry if the chapter isn't as good as the others, hopefully it is, but I'll let you be the judge of that. Also I would like to thank CyberJordan for helping me out with the vault rescue. Alright, here's Chapter 3.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout. All rights belong to Bethesda.**

**Reviews:**

**CyberJordan: Trust me when I tell you that the Warrior's agenda is nothing but pure chaos.**

**eaglescorch: All in good time, the truth will be revealed behind these attackers.**

**Oddliver: Thanks, and you'll find out how much more DC is fucked in Chapter 4.**

**Chazzen01: Eventually the Wanderer will get the reinforcements needed to help stop this Wasteland menace, only they won't be from another Brotherhood Chapter. Wait and see.**

**Alone in the Blight: Thanks, I'm glad I'm doing a good job so far.**

**EclipsePheniox: Thanks for the offer, if I have any problems, I'd appreciate the help.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: From Their Cold Dead Talons**

**Megaton: June 9, 2279. 1:54 A.M.**

Eric and his group managed to make the long trek back to Megaton without any problems from the Outcasts. On arrival to the city, they saw four Brotherhood Soldiers guarding the main gate. They all raised their laser rifles at the sight of Eric and the others.

"THAT'S FAR ENOUGH!" One of the Brotherhood soldiers spoke up.

Eric took one step forward with his hands up in the air. "This is Star-Paladin Daniels, stand down soldiers!"

The Brotherhood Guards immediately lowered their rifles and signaled for them to get over to the steel ramparts that they'd set up. The Brotherhood Commander walked over to Eric. "Sorry sir, we didn't expect to see any friendly faces out here."

Eric nodded, "It's alright Paladin. I need you to get Sheriff Simms and tell him that he needs to start evacuating the town." He quickly glanced over to all the other Guards and noticed that they were wearing T-45d's and were only armed with regular laser rifles. "How come you guys haven't been given your standard issued gear?"

"We haven't been issued our gear. Why?" The commander asked.

"Alright, you four are coming with me. McGraw, I want you and your men to get everyone ready for when we fall back to the Jefferson Memorial. Harkness, Butch, you two are also with me." Eric ordered. McGraw and his squad of defected Outcasts ran into the town while Eric was leading the squad of Brotherhood soldiers to the old Holy Light Monastery. He remembered when he first went there to stop the Apostles of the Holy Light from stealing Megaton's water and radiating it to turn everyone into ghouls. He had replaced the cellar's wooden door with a heavier, sturdier metal door that was locked down. Eric pulled out his key to the door, but before he could unlock it, the sound of gunfire drew their attention towards Vault 101.

Butch was shocked when he looked down the road to see a redheaded girl in a vault security uniform taking cover behind a burnt out car. "SUSIE!" Butch shouted as he pulled out his Assault Carbine and rushed off to Susie's aid.

"Butch, hold up!" Eric tried to stop Butch, but he was more focused on protecting Susie. "FUCK! Come on, we gotta help him!" Eric drew his M-16 and charged off after Butch. Harkness and the Brotherhood soldiers quickly tailed after them.

It was a good thing that Butch and the others got to Susie when they did. She was down to her last mag. Butch opened fire on her attackers forcing them to take cover. "Are you alright?" He asked her. Susie nodded with relief. _'Man I never thought I'd be happy to see you.' _She thought. Butch noticed he needed to reload, but as he was loading a new mag, a bullet nailed him in his arm causing him to yell out in pain. "AAAH, FUCK! GODDAMN BASTARDS!" He dropped next to Susie holding his bleeding wound. "Oh God, I can already hear Harkness now..." Butch started imitating Harkness's voice. _"Well Rookie that oughta teach you for going off and trying to pull a heroic stunt like that."_

Eric came up the hill and aimed his M-16 at the scenic overlook where the enemy soldiers were firing from. He fired one round at a time, landing precision headshots on a few of them before getting pinned down himself. Harkness pulled out his plasma rifle and his targeting systems quickly locked on to a group of light machine gunners, firing several bolts of plasma, reducing some of the soldiers to piles of goo. The Brotherhood soldiers wasted no time in joining Harkness and began firing on the overlook with their laser rifles. Suddenly, everyone was stunned to see the remaining attackers fall over dead when no one hit any of them. A voice could be heard from up on the ridge. "Clear up!"

Eric recognized whose voice it was and jumped up from his cover, "On your feet, let's go!" Eric ordered the Brotherhood Soldiers as he started up the hill.

Harkness knelt down beside Butch to make sure he was alright. When he saw Butch's arm he sighed with disappointment. "Well Rookie…that oughta teach you for going off and trying to pull a heroic stunt like that."

Butch smirked, rolled his eyes and looked over to Susie. "What'd I tell ya?" Harkness pulled out a stimpak and injected it into Butch's arm. When the pain finally numbed down a bit, he and Susie got back to their feet and Butch loaded a fresh new mag into his Assault Carbine. "Shall we?" He said as they followed Harkness to regroup with Eric and the others.

Upon making it to the hill, they were dumbstruck to see that the assailants that attacked them turned out to be a Talon Company Kill Squad. They saw Eric and the other Paladins talking with an unknown figure dressed in a black armor that none of them had ever seen before. "Gallows you sure know how to make an entrance." The Pride's Spec Ops Soldier just shrugged as he removed the face cover for his Chinese Stealth Suit.

"Yeah, well speaking of entrances, looks like Talon Company made it through Vault 101's entrance." Gallows told Eric.

Susie got a worried look on her face as he said that. "What? Eric we have to do something, my family's in danger."

Before he could say something his Pip-boy, along with Butch's and Susie's, started beeping. A message popped up on the screen, 'New Transmission from Vault-Tec Vault 101.' Eric hesitated for a moment before hitting play and a wave of horror fell upon them.

"Hello Eric, I was hoping that you had died out there in the wastes, but I figured, I'm not that lucky." Eric clenched his teeth when he realized that it was Officer Wilkins _'Should've killed him when I had the chance.' _Eric thought with blind fury. "I think that you should know that Ms. Almodovar is no longer in a position to be giving me orders any longer. You see, I am now acting leader of Vault 101and if you have anything to say about it, then come say it to my face. That is…if you still care about Ms. Almodovar. The password to the vault door has been changed to her name. If you are not here within the next 24 hours, I will put a bullet in her. Don't keep me waiting!" The message started to repeat.

"I think he's hitting on you Eric." The others turned to see McGraw standing there with a Gatling laser in his hands. "I heard enough to know that we're going in to launch a rescue mission?" McGraw asked.

"Damn right we are, but first things first, I need to get these guys properly outfitted with some better armor. Let's go!" Eric led the others back to the cellar door and quickly unlocked it with his key. "I'm gonna need some help with the door." He wasn't kidding as it took him and two of the Brotherhood soldiers to lift the heavy door open. "Thanks." They all walked down a flight of stairs and Eric opened a door leading into the large shelter. Everyone was taken by surprise as they all fell to the floor when a burst of fire almost hit Eric in the face. They could all hear a robot yelling with a British accent.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW YOU PESKY EIGHT-LEGGED NUISANCE! YOU AREN'T GOING TO GET AWAY FROM ME THIS TIME!" Eric's personal robotic butler was having a little trouble trying to kill a spider that was giving Dogmeat many sleepless nights. He immediately realized he almost injured his master. "Oh dear, my deepest apologizes sir. I did not see you enter the room."

"Eric stood back up, "It's alright Wadsworth." He looked over and saw the wasteland arachnid. No wonder why Wadsworth was trying to fry it. It was the size of a cat. Eric shuddered as he pulled out his 9mm Berretta and put a hole in the mutated pest. "That better?"

Wadsworth went over and torched the dead arachnid and then threw it in a trash can. "Much better, now then, what can I do for you sir?" His robotic butler asked.

"I need my spare T-51b suits and a few Gauss Rifles." Wadsworth turned and moved over to a security code panel. After entering the password, five suits of advanced T-51b Power Armor appeared from hidden compartments in the floor. On the wall, a row of Tri-beam laser rifles and Gauss Rifles appeared with an ammo crate filled with microfusion cells. "Take anything you need, that includes you McGraw. Susie come with me!" While the Brotherhood Guards and McGraw were suiting up in the stronger power armor, Eric led Susie further downstairs and entered the room to find several different weapons lined up against the wall along with several military crates, a massive clean bed, a Vault-Tec Bobblehead Stand, a Pristine Nuke-Cola Machine, a jukebox, a first-aid kit, and a chemistry set. Above his bed was a Gadsden Flag with the words "Don't Tread on Me." "Here boy, come here!" Susie turned to see Eric petting an old Siberian husky.

Susie walked over and knelt down to pet the dog, "Cute dog. What's his name?" She asked him.

"Dogmeat..." She chuckled thinking that was a weird name. "Don't laugh at his name!" He said as he got up and walked over to a dresser, pulling out a set of combat armor. "Put this on. It'll give you more protection."

Susie took the uniform from Eric. "Thanks."

Eric left the room to give Susie some privacy to change. He walked upstairs to find that McGraw and the Brotherhood Guards were almost finished putting on their T-51b's. "Goddang you guys are fast! Either that or I'm slow." He said.

McGraw quickly changed the subject, "So what's the plan Eric?" He asked.

"First," Eric looked to the Brotherhood Guards. "I want you guys to assist Morrill and his team in evacuating Megaton. Should the town come under attack, I want you to escort them to Grayditch and if we don't report back within the next hour, get everyone to the Purifier and don't stop for anything." The Brotherhood Guards nodded and walked out of the cellar towards Megaton. "Alright, Butch you're with me the whole time, we're gonna sneak our way inside through the Overseer's hidden tunnel and make our way to the Security Office and get everyone out the way we came. Harkness I want you to watch our backs and make sure that no one gets the jump on us. McGraw, wait by the Overseers Office, if things get bad, I want you to give us cover so we can make a break for it. Gallows, I want you to keep an eye on the outside entrance, let us know if we should expect any more trouble." Eric walked over to a small crate by the corner of Wadsworth's recharging station and pulled out three handheld radios. He tossed one to McGraw, one to Gallows and kept the other one for himself. "Use these to keep in contact."

Everyone nodded and got their weapons ready, Gallows put his face cover back on and told Eric, "I'll rendezvous with Kodiak at Springvale School. I'll let you know if anything comes up, though I don't know how effective these radios will be with the vault walls being so thick."

"It's a risk were gonna have to take." Eric told him.

Gallows nodded and walked out to meet up with Paladin Kodiak. Susie appeared a few minutes later wearing forest green combat armor with the Reilly's Ranger's logo. "What do you want me to do?" She asked.

Eric looked at her and before answering her; he walked back over the crate and pulled out a few more magazines for Susie's assault rifle. "You stay behind us the whole time and keep your head down. Understand?" She nodded and joined the others. Eric then put one of his 9mm pistols in the crate and took out a suppressed Colt .45 pistol. He straightened his beret and led everyone outside. "Alright, let's go."

**Vault 101 Entrance: June 9, 2279. 2:13 A.M.**

The Vault Entrance was being guarded by a dozen Talon Company Mercs and five Vault Security Guards. Some of the Vault Guards didn't like having to put up with their mercenary guests. After a while of radio silence from the outside guards, two Talon Company Commandos armed with Chinese assault rifles went to open the giant steel door. "I swear to God if those bastards aren't dead, I'm gonna kill'em myself!" One officer shouted as the door opened. Just when they were about to walk out the door, they both fell to the floor as gunfire filled the cavern.

"CONTACT, 12 O'CLOCK!" The mercs and guards opened fire, but they didn't expect a hail of laser and plasma fire to fall on their positions. The guard standing by the door's control panel dropped as bolts of plasma seared through his neck. Two Talon Specialists tried to charge at their attackers head on, but were torn to bits by a hail of bullets from Butch's assault carbine. The rest were easy prey from there. In less than three minutes, all that was left of the security personnel at the entrance was piles of ashes, goo and flesh.

Eric and his team walked in to see their handiwork. He felt the side of his head was bleeding and realized that a bullet grazed his ear. "Damn, this is gonna sting in the morning." He winced in pain.

Harkness did a quick scan of the area. "All clear Eric. Now where is this secret tunnel?"

"Over here." Eric replied as he moved over to the control booth.

**Vault 101 Security Office: June 9, 2279. 2:20 A.M.**

"GET IN THERE TRAITOR!" Two Vault guards yelled as they threw a battered Officer Gomez into the holding cell with the rest of the vault residents. "You should've just followed your orders from an Overseer who knows how to do their job."

Gomez spat some blood out of his mouth while the others ran to his aid. The two guards left the room, leaving four Talon Company Mercs to watch over the hostages. Amata and her father helped Gomez onto the bed in the cell when Talon Sergeant Brady commented. "That bitch looks real tasty."

Amata turned and looked at him with a cold glare, but it didn't faze the mercenary as he just kept smiling with a lewd look on his face. She wanted to say something, but her father wouldn't allow her and he stepped in front of her in a stare down against the mercenary. Another merc just laughed at Alphonse. "Awe look at that boys, daddy thinks he can protect his little girl." That just caused the rest of the mercenaries to burst into a fit of laughter.

"Kinda pointless if you ask me. Oh well, once we kill that worthless Wanderer, we'll just take her as a bonus." One other merc stated.

"You'll never get away with this!" Stanley Armstrong spoke up.

Amata flipped and stepped out to face the mercenary. "Yeah, you really must be as a dumb as you look if you think that he'll come back here!"

Brady's smile grew wider. "Ooooh, you're a feisty one. I like that. We're definitely gonna have a good time with you. Yes, I'll give you that one, he is smart enough to know that it's trap, but when it involves the people he cares about, I'm pretty sure he's gonna take the risk. I can't say I blame him either. You're one good looking skank!"

Alphonse's hands balled up into fists and gritted his teeth. "Now listen here you neanderthal, you aren't going to lay a single hand on my daughter. Not as long as I'm still breathing."

Brady's smile diminished and was staring directly at Alphonse. "That can be arranged you know!" His tone was ice cold.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Everyone turned to the security office entrance to see a man wearing a Special Forces combat outfit and a black army beret aiming a Colt .45 pistol at the door guard.

"Eric!" The crowd shouted at the sight of their savior for the second time. He fired a round in the door guard's temple, and then a second at the merc standing by the locker, and a third round at the merc standing by the security terminal. Not a sound was made except for the bullet casings and the lifeless bodies hitting the hard metal floor. Before Brady could raise his shotgun at Eric, he dropped his pistol and charged at the merc, slamming him into the window and taking him down. Eric punched him in the face before receiving a punch to his and being kicked away by Brady. Brady got up and pulled out a combat knife and held it front of his face. Butch, Harkness, and Susie ran inside and closed the door hoping none of the other mercenaries would hear the fight.

Eric smirked as he pulled out his trench knife, "Let's go sweetheart!" he spat, pissing off the Talon Sergeant even further. He lunged at Eric with the knife, which he quickly dodged and swung his trench knife at him slicing his arm. The merc didn't even flinch when the blade hit him, Eric took another charge at him, but the merc kicked the knife out of his hand and jabbed at Eric with lightning speed.

Miraculously, Eric had managed to dodge all, but one strike against the side of his face. "HOLD STILL YOU FUCKER!" Brady tried to stab Eric in the side of his head, but he quickly grabbed his wrist and slammed his left fist into his elbow. Brady's elbow was bent in backwards and still he didn't show any sign of pain. Instead, he just laughed.

Everyone in the room, including Eric all looked at Brady with shocked faces. "What-the- Fuck?" Brady stood up and started walking at Eric with nothing but a smug smile on his face. Eric's fists were clenched and slammed a right hook at the Mercenary Sergeant, causing him to hit the wall by the holding cell window. He didn't stop there; Eric started punching, left and right hits into Brady's gut as hard as he could then focused all his attention on Brady's face. Eric lost count after landing ten solid punches in the mercs face.

Everyone was cheering Eric on as he didn't stop hitting the mercenary. He was either too tired to defend himself or just decided not to. Freddy Gomez and his parents were both shouting for him to rip Brady's teeth out. Christine Kendall yelled for him to not stop. All the residents that were forced into the cell kept cheering for him to not let up on the merc. Finally, he walked over and picked up his trench knife and used the spiked knuckle guard to inflict more damage as he laid one more punch on Brady's face. _'I think that did it!'_ He thought. Blood started streaming out of Brady and his right eye was torn open. Unfortunately for Eric, by some phenomenal strength, Brady stood back up and looked at Eric with a look of pure sinful hate.

"For fuck-sakes, will you die already?!" Butch snapped as he picked up Eric's Colt .45 and emptied what was left of the mag into Brady's skull.

Brady's body had fallen over dead, filling Eric with relief. He looked over to the residents staring at him, he approached the terminal but found it was destroyed during the fighting. He turned to Harkness and told him to shoot the door to get it open. After four precision shots to the doors locking mechanisms, the group lifted the door open before the burning plasma welded it shut.

Everyone was still too afraid to leave the room. "It's alright, you're safe now." Harkness assured them.

Amata was the first one to step out of the security cell, followed by her father, then Mr. Brotch, then everyone else. "Amata!" Susie ran and embraced her friend, happy to see that she is alive. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm glad to see you too." She looked over at Eric and saw him putting a medical patch on the side of his face where Brady's knife cut him. Amata walked over with a half-smile on her face. "I can't even begin to tell you how good it is to see you Eric." Eric saw her and everyone else, including Amata's father smiling at him.

Alphonse stepped forward. "Indeed, it really is good to see you again."

Officer Gomez spoke up. "Glad to see you're still kicking buddy."

Butch and his mother embraced, happy to see each other again then walked over to Eric and gave him back his pistol. As Eric holstered his sidearm and stood up with a look of grief on his face. "As happy as I am to see you all again, this couldn't have happened at a worse time."

**Vault 101 Entrance: June 9, 2279. 2:33 A.M.**

"Sir, we're at the site of the broadcast. He's here alright, but so is Talon Company." An Outcast Commander spoke into his radio.

"_Take no prisoners! Kill them all! Scavenge that Vault! You have your orders Commander, now do your job!" _Protector Mullen shouted through the radio.

"Yes sir." The Commander looked back to his ten man Death Squad. "Clear the vault!" The Outcasts nodded and armed their Gatling lasers and missile launchers.

**Vault 101 Security Office: June 9, 2279. 2:36 A.M.**

"Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain, but we need to get all of you out of here before something goes wrong." Eric told them. He opened the door and checked the corridors making sure it was clear. He saw McGraw motion for him to start moving the residents to the Overseers Office. Eric and Butch covered the hallway leading to the Atrium while Harkness and McGraw covered the hallway to the lower levels. Everyone started running towards the office when suddenly; 'KABOOM' An explosion jolted everyone around. The sound of gunfire filled the vault hallways. "MOVE!" Eric shouted. When everyone was in the office, he peered through the window into the atrium and his eyes almost popped out of his head. The look on his face went from shock to a devious smirk. "This just keeps getting better and better." The Outcasts poured into the atrium by the handful, starting a new firefight between the power armored foes and the ruthless mercinaries.

McGraw walked towards the window, charged his Gatling laser and unleashed hell on the two groups. "Go! Get them out of here!" McGraw ordered.

Before Eric could object, Harkness started firing his plasma rifle down the hallway away from the office. "Eric, I think you should listen to him!"

Eric sighed with defeat and went over to McGraw. "You better be right behind us!" McGraw nodded and continued firing into the atrium, killing both Outcasts and Talon Company alike. Eric grabbed Amata's hand causing her to blush and led everyone down the Overseer's secret tunnels. For the first time in two years, he wasn't mad at her anymore, he wanted to be, but he couldn't. When they made it to the control room, Eric drew his battle rifle and Butch pulled out his assault carbine making sure it was clear before running for the wastes. Butch looked at Eric and nodded to let him know it was safe. Eric entwined his hands with Amata's once again and took charge hurrying everyone out of the vault.

McGraw was about ready to make a run for the tunnel exit until a missile fired into the Overseer's Office and knocked him off his feet. Seconds later a plasma grenade flew in through the window and melted through a good portion of his power armor and Gatling laser. McGraw managed to gather up enough strength to crawl his way into the tunnel, left a C-4 charge and closed it off from the bottom of the steps, then detonated the charge by the Overseer's personal terminal, making sure he can't be followed. As he limped to the vault exit he pulled out a hidden plasma defender and fired a bolt of plasma into both consoles, sealing the Talon Company Mercenaries inside.

**Overseer's Office: June 9, 2279. 2:43 A.M.**

All of the Outcasts were dead and half of the guards and mercs were left alive. Officer Wilkins and the Talon Commander walked inside to find the office destroyed, but no bodies of their attackers. "How the fuck did they get away?" Wilkins asked, not knowing about the secret tunnel. He looked over to see a very pissed off mercenary. "Listen, I promise I'll do anything I can to help get you your money, I swear."

The merc pulled out a scoped 44. Magnum. "Sorry, but the deals off." He raised his gun to the security officer's head and put a round right between the eyes. He grabbed his radio and called all other mercs. "Kill them." He walked over to the window and saw his fellow Talon officers shoot the remaining guards. As he was about to light up a cigarette he heard a beeping sound and turned by the Overseers desk to see an undetonated C-4 charge. "Shit." The whole room went up in flames in a matter of seconds.

**Capital Wasteland: June 9, 2279. 2:45 A.M.**

Eric saw the horrors that were unveiling out in the DC Ruins. The fires were visible from the scenic overlook and the Capitol Building couldn't be seen behind the plumes of smoke rising up in the air. Most of the vault residents were gawking at the sight of the destroyed wasteland. Suddenly his radio blared to life. "Eric." What he didn't expect was the maniacal laugh that sounded all too familiar. "Casdin, you got a real habit of pissing people off don't you?" Eric spat with rage hoping to spite the Outcast leader. Everyone looked at him curiously.

"_In case you forgotten Wanderer, I've made it my job since I'm now the commander of the wastes." _Casdin gloated.

"You must really love the sound of your voice if you won't stop rambling like a bitch. Let's get something straight here; you had no right to attack Vault 101! Those are innocent people that you attacked." He responded.

"_Innocent is such a strong word for the local wildlife. Either way, they were standing in the way of technology that is vital to our survival. I'm sure you can understand the reasons behind my attack…"_

Eric interrupted Casdin, raising his voice to as loud as he could get it, "WERE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY! YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT IF YOU THINK YOU CAN PLAY THE FOOL CASDIN! I'VE DONE MY BEST TO RESTORE PEACE AND ORDER BETWEEN YOU AND THE BROTHERHOOD, YET YOU STILL DECIDE TO DECLARE WAR AND SUCKERPUNCH EVERYONE YOU COME ACROSS." He managed to gain control of his temper before talking again. "Shows what a worthless coward you are." Oh, that did it.

"_COWARD?!" _Everyone jumped at the angry voice on the radio.

Amata stepped forward, "Eric…what are you doing?"

Eric smirked. "Stirrin' up a hornets nest. Which I might regret later." He lifted the radio back up to his face. "Casdin, I'm going to give you one warning. Pull your men back, and I won't have to come to down to Independence and kick your ass!" Butch couldn't help, but smile at that statement.

Casdin started laughing again before he stated. _"I would love to see you try you insignificant bastard! Until then Defender Matthews, give him hell!" _The radio went to static and Eric frowned at what Casdin said, then he turned to find Defender Mathews and five Outcasts in Advanced Power Armor Mk II loading plasma rifles. Eric, Butch and Harkness ran in front of the residents, guns raised to protect them. Right as the Outcasts readied their weapons a barrage of minigun fire rained down on the Outcasts from the cliff above the entrance to the vault. Everyone ducked down afraid for their lives. After several seconds of bullets pegging the power armor it was dead silent and everyone looked up to see the Outcasts lying lifeless on the ground.

Eric stood up and looked around. "Is everybody alright?" He asked. After several nods and yes's Eric offered his hand to Amata which she kindly accepted. Once he pulled her back to her feet, their faces were close to each other, causing her to blush and Eric to feel a little awkward.

Harkness helped Christine to her feet before asking, "What the hell just happened?"

A female with a southern accent yelled down to the group. "How y'all doin'?" Eric's face went into a focused state when he recognized who it was.

He looked up. "Brick?"

Everyone looked up to see a group of soldiers in forest green combat armor rappel down the cliff. Once their feet were on the ground Brick turned to face Eric. "Good to see ya again kid, been a while."

"Yes, it has. I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you doing here?"

"We picked up the transmission that was broadcasted from your vault and Reilly wanted to make sure you were doin' alright and to see if y'all needed any help."

Eric smiled. "Good old Reilly, and yeah I need your help. I need to get them to the Purifier, but I don't think I can get them there alive with just three people acting as security."

"Four." A voice came up over the crowd. Everyone turned to see a busted up McGraw with a destroyed Gatling laser. "Sorry Eric, but your Gatling laser became the victim of a plasma grenade."

Eric was shocked to see McGraw hurt so badly. He had fought by his side many times and the only injury her ever received was a small cut on the side of his face, but now his whole face was bleeding badly, he had a massive bruise over his eye, probably from the stock of a rifle, and his arm was pretty much dislocated. "The fuck happened to you?"

McGraw dropped the gatling pack from his back before talking. "Oh, you know, a couple missiles here, some plasma bursts there." He stated, trying his best to pull a smile.

Eric and Harkness ran over and kept him steady before he lost his balance due to the severe pain from his sustained injuries. Brick walked forward and took over for Eric. "Don't worry kid, I got him…and about providing security, we were gonna have Megaton help with the escort, but they've already moved to Grayditch so Donovan and Butcher and their team have taken over and are waiting for us when we get to the town. However, it wouldn't hurt to get these people some guns." The merc suggested.

Eric nodded at the idea. "Alright." He turned to face the vault residents. "Follow me!" Eric took point and led everyone else, followed with Brick's minigun squad covering their flanks. Once they made it back to Eric's house, he, Butch, and one of the Rangers helped him lift the metal door. Butch and Harkness offered to watch the outside for any threats. Eric led the others down the stairs into the cellar and some were shocked to see a Mister Handy outside of the vault.

"Oh dear. My apologies sir, if I had known you'd be bringing more guests by, I would've tidied up a bit." The robotic butler said.

"Don't worry about it Wadsworth, I need the crate with all my extra outfits of leather and combat armor."

"Of course sir." Eric and Wadsworth both went down to the lower level of his underground home and came back with the crate of spare clothing. Eric opened it up and went back downstairs along with McGraw Brick and her team. "He has requested that each one of you change your attire to better your protection for the outside. The men will change in here, the women change in there." With that Wadsworth left the room to join Eric. Everyone grabbed a suit of armor and the women went into the separate room to change.

Twenty minutes later the residents were all suited up in better protective gear. Eric appeared with another crate only this one was filled with guns. "Amata." She turned and he motioned for her to stand by him. Before he handed her a gun he checked to make sure that the armored plating on her armor was in place. She couldn't help the heat that rose to her cheeks. "Alright you're all good, now then." He handed her a .45 Auto submachine gun with two magazines. "Everyone grab a gun and two mags and wait outside for me." He quickly walked back outside to meet with Harkness and Butch.

As the vault residents started grabbing guns, three medical officers from Butcher's squad came inside. Two of them went downstairs to treat McGraw, the other spoke up. "Which one of you is Herman Gomez?"

The still beaten Gomez walked forward. "I am."

The medic pulled out his medical kit. "Eric asked me to take a look at your wounds…doesn't look too bad, but…" The medic took out a stimpak and a shot of Med-X and injected them both in his arm. "That should help with the pain." He pulled out an icepack and gave it to Gomez. "Put that over your eye and it should help with the swelling."

Gomez instantly put it over his eye. "Thank you."

The Ranger nodded. "No problem."

Most of the vault residents were impressed to see an outsider with medical knowledge. "Where did you achieve your medical knowledge Mr.?" Alphonse asked.

"Just call me Jason. Me and most of the medics learned everything from treating cuts to doing field surgery from our commander, Butcher and Eric." The medic answered. He saw his fellow medics carrying McGraw on a stretcher and ran over to assist them.

Everyone went outside and found Eric and the other mercenaries loading supplies on a caravan. Some of the residents were shocked yet again to see the two headed cows. More Rangers came back out with several military marked crates and loaded them onto the caravan. "That's the last of it sir." One Ranger spoke.

"Get these crates to the Purifier and tell them to wait for my instructions." Eric turned to face the group and went into his drill sergeant mode. "All of you better listen and listen real good, because I'm not gonna repeat myself. First, keep your fingers off the trigger of your gun; I don't want any accidental gunfire. Second, you listen to everything I say! If I tell you to run, you run! I tell you shoot, you shoot! Understand?" After several nods from the group he continued. "You see anything that looks suspicious; you point it out to the closest Ranger and they'll take care of it. And last, if any of you try to be a hero and end up getting someone else killed, I'll shoot you myself! Do you all understand?" Everyone gave another nod and Eric smiled. "Good. You stick you by us and you'll live to see tomorrow." Eric raised his thumb and index finger to his mouth and let out shrill whistle. Seconds later, his loyal companion was at his side.

Amata and some of the residents that worked for the scavenger team were baffled by Eric's orders. They really had no idea what was going on in the Wastes. Susie was the one to speak up. "What's going on Eric? When I left the vault, everything seemed normal, but when I left Megaton, Sheriff Simm's was gathering the town militia. They all seemed pretty frightened. The Brotherhood Guards watching over the town even offered to escort me back to the vault and they've never done that before." She glanced over and noticed the Butch's name stitched into his combat armor. "Butch, are you a security guard?" Susie asked incredulously causing all the other vault residents to have the same expressions.

Butch spoke with a dead serious tone. "If any of ya so much as laugh's at that, you'll get a fist in the face!"

Eric coughed to get their attention. "All your questions will be answered when we get to a safer location. Right now we need to move." He grabbed his radio and got ahold of Gallows and Kodiak. "We're on the move, make your way to Grayditch."

Kodiak's voice came through. _"Copy that. Be advised, multiple Talon Company Kill Squads are converging on Megaton. You better get out of there now."_

Kodiak's warning came out loud and clear to Eric and the Rangers. "Alright Brick, have your minigunners watch over the vault residents, we're gonna double-time it to Grayditch. We'll grab Butcher and Donovan and the others on the way."

Brick readied Eugene, her minigun and ordered her men into formation. "Alright, y'all heard the man, let's move it!"

Eric went to the front. "Everybody better keep up, if you break away from the rest of us or you get left behind, don't expect anyone to come back for you. Come on!"

Everyone started jogging up to the makeshift town until he caught sight of Butcher and Donovan. Butcher gathered his men and met up with the group. "You don't need to tell us, we heard everything on the radio. Donovan's engineers already set up explosive charges around the town. Once Talon Company makes it to the Brass Lantern, the whole town will be obliterated."

"Then we better get going."

Donovan and the rest of the Rangers bolted out of the town to join the crowd. "Good to go."

Everyone didn't stop for anything; they just pushed forward through the wasteland. When they made it to the Super Duper Mart, the sight of the dead Brotherhood soldiers that littered the compound was a little difficult to bear, even for Eric and the Rangers. They spent a few minutes retrieving the holotags from the deceased before continuing on to Grayditch. On arrival, they were met with several Megaton militia officers wearing riot gear and wielding marksman carbines and riot shotguns. The one thing Eric couldn't believe was that Jericho was part of the militia. He walked forward and extended a hand to his old friend. "Good to see you Jericho."

The former raider took his hand and replied with his same old vulgar tone. "Yeah, yeah. It's good to see you to kid." He looked over his shoulder to see the vault residents. "Old friends?" He asked.

Eric nodded. "Fresh out of the vault."

Jericho decided to give them a 'proper' wasteland greeting. "Welcome to the Capital Wasteland! The shittiest hell hole on the fuckin' planet."

Few of the vault dwellers were somewhat offended by his uncouth nature, but were just too exhausted to care. Amata was about to speak, until she saw something out of the corner of her eye that acquired her attention. "Eric, who's that girl that Butch is with?" Eric furrowed his bro, but his jaw dropped to the ground when he turned and saw Butch locking lips with Lucy West.

"Un-believable." Eric stated, still trying to shake off the shock that hit him. "I definitely have to get out more…or in since I spend all my time wandering the wastes." With that, he walked away to have a talk with Sheriff Simm's while the vault residents decided to sit down around a campfire and converse with some of the residents from Megaton.

**Megaton: July 9, 2279. 4:13 A.M.**

A large Talon Company Kill Squad made it through the city, searching for the Lone Wanderer and anyone else that would be of use to them. One of the mercs stepped on a trip wire set up by the Brass Lantern causing a chain reaction of hidden mini nukes and C-4 charges to detonate throughout the city, slaughtering the mercenaries, melting the steel structures from the intense heat and collapsing the town walls and buildings into the crater. Thanks to Eric disarming the bomb and Donovan's engineer's removing all the explosive and radioactive contents, the undetonated warhead at the center of the crater didn't pose much of a threat to the wasteland surroundings. Megaton was no more. Five men in modified Advanced Power Armor Mk II stood at what was left of the entrance inspecting the damage. The commander went to his radio officer. "Warrior One, this is Warrior Two, come in over."

"_Go ahead Warrior Two."_

"He was here, but we don't know where he's gone."

"_Don't worry about that. Warrior Three has a visual on his location. We'll have him by sunrise."_

"Roger that. We're gonna link up with Warrior Three. On the move!"

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**Whoa. Warrior One? Warrior Two? What could this mean? Wait and see. I hope that you all liked Chapter 3, like I said, I've been busy fighting fires, so I really haven't had a lot of time to put even more thought into the chapter. Review and tell me what you think. I should have Chapter 4 up within the next 2 weeks. Thanks for reading, NCRMC signing off for now.**


	4. Unfinished Business

**I'm back everyone. Let me start off by saying I'm sorry for not posting earlier. I got dispatched to the Wood River Canyon Fire and things got hectic there. Now I'm back and ready to post more chapters. I hope that this new chapter can make up for my long absence. Here's Chapter 4.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Unfinished Business**

**Sniper's Nest Outside of Grayditch: June 9, 4:16 A.M.**

Everything was calm and quiet in the Capital Wasteland. The sounds of gunfire echoing across the horizon had ceased and it seemed as if it was completely void of life…except for a group of power armored soldiers spying on the refugee camp at Grayditch.

"Warrior Three this is Warrior Two. We're in position and have a visual on the target." The commander spoke into his radio.

"_Roger that Warrior Two. Be advised, Marshes wants this one alive. What you do with the rest of them is up to you."_

"Copy that."

The five soldiers were lying in wait to capture the Lone Wanderer. These soldiers were the elite of the elite. They made the Enclave Hellfire troopers look like a bunch of raiders, but today, they were about to learn what happens when you fuck with the Brotherhood.

"How're we gonna let this play out?" The radio officer asked.

"Once they get to the Anchorage War Memorial, Warrior Three will ambush them from the front and we box them in from behind. Just watch your fire. We need him alive."

"Yes sir. They won't know what hit'em."

"You sure about that?" A new voice came popped up. All five soldiers whipped around to see who was there, but saw no one.

"Who said that?"

They were only met with silence. The radio officer was reaching for his plasma rifle until he was met with a combat knife being jammed into the back of his neck, followed by a Gauss charge decapitating the soldier next to him. The soldiers were taken over by confusion as they began firing their plasma rifles in all directions. A second Gauss charge penetrated through the chest plate of the commander's power armor. The two remaining soldiers tried dragging their commander away, but didn't make it far as bolts of plasma slammed into them from behind.

A barely alive commander tried reaching for his plasma defender. As he grabbed the energy sidearm it was kicked from his hand and was met with an unknown figure deactivating the stealth field on his armor. A second figure appeared with a Gauss Rifle pointed at the commander's head. "Who are you with? The Enclave?" The stealth soldier shouted.

The commander laughed evilly before responding. "Do you honestly think we'd be a part of those spineless bureaucrats?"

"Then who are you with?"

"Who I'm with is not important." The commander was nearing death as he started gasping for air. "What's important….is that….our empire….will riiiiiiise." With that, he took his last breath.

The stealth soldier took off the commander's power helmet and checked for a pulse, but was disappointed when he didn't find one. He sighed in frustration while the other soldier stepped in front of him, looking down at the refugee camp. "Gallows, we have to warn Eric." He turned to see that the Pride's Spec Ops officer vanished. "Gallows?" Kodiak realized he must've activated the stealth field on his armor. "Fuck I hate when he does that." He said to no one in particular.

**Grayditch: June 9, 2279. 4:20 A.M.**

Eric and Jericho came back to the camp after taking in the view of a demolished Megaton. "Donovan!" The Rangers lead Technical Specialist turned to face him. "Tell Gob to give you and your engineers a round of whiskey. Put it on my tab."

"Thanks." The Ranger said, feeling proud of the work he and his team accomplished.

Eric walked over to the former vault residents to see how they were all doing now that they were no longer living in Vault 101. Most of them were just as scared as Eric was when he first left the vault. Some of them were handling it better than the others. His brow furrowed when he noticed someone was missing. "Where's Amata?"

Alphonse pointed to her standing by Doctor Lesko's shack. "She said she wanted to be left alone."

Eric chose to ignore Alphonse's words and went over to his closest childhood friend. "You alright?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, but quickly looked back down and shook her head.

"You wanna talk?"

Amata turned to face him. "Look, I know why you came over here. You're still mad at me for exiling you from the vault and I understand that you're mad."

"Amata…"

"No, Eric let me finish! If you're still angry with me and don't want anything to do with me, then I understand, but please understand that I felt it was the right thing to do at the time and I thought that things would be better in the vault. Now I know it was wrong and if you wanna yell at me, go ahead and get it off your chest. If you don't want anything to do with me then I'll leave you alone."

Eric's mouth was agape after he heard those last sentences clearly. "Are you finished?"

She nodded.

"Good, because I'm not mad at you."

Amata didn't think she heard right. "You…You're not?" She asked in disbelief.

"No! So do you think you can stop your rambling for a bit and let me talk?" Now that Eric had her undivided attention, he explained to her. "At first I was mad at you for a while. I understand why you did what you had to do. I still wish you hadn't done it in the first place and I'll admit, I never thought you would actually exile me from the vault, so you kinda did catch me off guard on that one."

Amata looked down in shame.

"Eventually I realized I just couldn't stay mad at you." He ended the statement with a smile.

Amata returned a smile of her own, feeling a little relieved, but still doubtful. "Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes." He answered still holding a smile on his face.

"Then I guess you'll be wanting this back." She said pulling out the good luck charm he gave back to her the last time he saw her.

Eric was surprised that she had kept it all this time. He thought she would've probably destroyed it since they didn't part on good terms. He took the charm and put it around his neck. Then Eric thought of something amusing to say. "I'll be honest. I'm feeling lucky." He said with a flirtatious tone that earned him a playful punch to the shoulder.

Amata chuckled at that. "Yeah, ok smartass." He pulled her into a tight hug, alleviating the rest of her fears. She whispered into his ear. "I missed you Eric."

Eric swore his heart did a backflip when she said that. "I missed you too."

"I'm so sorry for making you leave the vault. Can you ever forgive me?" She asked, wanting to hear the words from him.

"Already done that a long time ago." He replied

Wanting to stay like this forever. Eric realized something was off and broke the embrace. "Go back to the others and tell Jericho to get over here!" Amata looked at him curiously, but he spoke before she could ask. "I'll explain later, now hurry."

Amata ran over to the group and sent Jericho to Eric. "The fuck you want kid?" The former raider asked with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Have you seen Lesko anywhere?" Jericho raised an eyebrow at the name. Eric pointed to the shack. "Egghead?"

"Ohhhh…" Jericho finally remembering who Eric was talking about. "Nope. Haven't seen him kid. Why?"

Eric knocked on Lesko's door. "Lesko….Lesko?" When no response came, he drew his M-16 and slowly opened the door. Jericho quickly followed suit and pulled out his marksman carbine and they both stepped inside the shack only to find it empty. "You up for a subway check?"

Jericho winced at the mention of the subway. "The last time we went down in that hellhole, we almost got cooked by a hundred fuckin' fire ants."

"What's the matter Jericho? Scared of a few ants?"

Jericho grabbed Eric by the collar. "I ain't fuckin' scared of nothing! GOT IT?!" Jericho spat.

Eric smirked. "Then let's quit wasting time and get a move on for God sakes." He said releasing himself from Jericho's grip as he walked out of the house.

Every one of the vault residents turned to the two walking out of Lesko's shack with confused looks on their faces as Eric retrieved Butch, Harkness, and Dogmeat and went off towards Marigold Station.

**Marigold Metro Station: June 9, 2279. 4:27 A.M.**

The group made their way through the maze of collapsed subway tunnels to find Doctor Lesko.

When they passed by a specific room, an amusing memory came back to Jericho's mind. "Hey kid, remember when we found that safe that had the…"

"AHHHHHH, DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" Eric interrupted, feeling the embarrassment hit him like a ton of bricks. He was really hoped he would find something cool to find in that safe, but all he ended up with was a pair of naughty nightwear and a raider willing to kill him over it. Jericho didn't do anything to suppress his laughter at Eric's discomfort while Butch and Harkness just looked at the two weirdly. The same thought crossed their minds. _'What happened the last time they were down here?'_

_**Flashback: Marigold Metro Tunnels, August 27, 2277. 2:18 P.M.**_

"This fuckin' sucks kid." Jericho was ranting and raving about Eric's decision to find the source of the fire ants and put an end to the menacing insects.

Eric rolled his eyes at every statement Jericho made. He was getting tired of him whining. Weren't raiders supposed to be tough and not complain? "Jericho, quit your bitching and man the fuck up already!" The venom in Eric's voice sealed Jericho's lips quicker than expected.

Upon searching the rooms, the duo came across one with a locked safe in it. Three broken bobby pins later, Eric managed to crack the lock on the safe. Once the door was open, Jericho got impatient. "Well, what's in it?"

Eric pulled out a woman's set of naughty nightwear. Eric was too embarrassed to say anything and Jericho just burst into laughter. They were both brought back to the real world when they heard a gun click.

The two turned to find a lone raider aiming an assault rifle at them. "I'm only gonna say this once. Give me the naughty nightwear!" The man demanded.

Eric and Jericho both looked at each other then back at the man. "Who are you?" They said in unison.

The raider growled in frustration and raised his gun at Eric. "That's it. I warned you!" He squeezed the trigger, but it didn't fire. Jericho took advantage of this opportunity and unloaded his Chinese assault rifle into the man.

After the raider's lifeless body hit the floor, the two just stood there with blank looks on their faces and an awkward silenced filled the room until Eric spoke. "Did that really just happen?"

Jericho nodded, still not believing that it did. As a raider he saw some pretty weird things out in the wastes, but this pretty much won the award.

"Let's never bring this up again."

Jericho chuckled. "No promises on that one kid."

_**(End of Flashback)**_

On arrival to Lesko's lab, they knew something was up the moment started growling. "What's wrong boy?" Eric asked. That's when he saw the group of fire ant soldiers trying to burn a hole through the lab door. Only problem was, these weren't the same fire ants that Eric faced two years ago. The carapace on these ants was a red-green color and their mandibles were spewing blue fire. They turned their attention to Eric and the others and went into a frenzied state. Eric raised his M-16 and fired a couple rounds into the lead ant's head. Its body immediately went limp and to everyone's surprise, exploded sending balls of flames everywhere.

"HOLY SHIT!" Jericho shouted as he dodged the fire raining towards him. "WHAT THE HELL HAS EGGHEAD BEEN FEEDING THESE BASTARDS, NAPALM?"

Eric swapped his M-16 for his battle rifle and started firing at the ants. "I don't know. I don't care right now. What I do know is that I'm gonna kill Lesko when I see him!"

Jericho nodded in agreement. Dogmeat ran to the other side of the room and started barking to get the ants attention. The distraction worked and the ants focused their fire on the canine. Eric, Butch, and Jericho unleashed a hail of bullets on the mutated insects. The same outcome occurred when the ants were killed. They would exploded and send fire in every direction. After the last of the ants were dead, the group looked around at the carnage to see the flames slowly start to die down. Dogmeat appeared out of the smoke and went to lie down at his master's feet.

Eric kneeled down and scratched behind the ears of his loyal companion. "Good boy Dogmeat."

'_BARK' _the hound replied.

Everyone was too stunned by what happened to notice that Jericho went ahead of them to inspect Lesko's lab and hopefully have a nice little 'chat' with the scientist. When he got to the door, he saw that the ants manage to burn a hole right through it. "Umm, guys? I think you should come have a look at this."

Eric was the first to see what Jericho saw, followed by the others. He stepped inside and saw the devastation of Lesko's lab. "Jesus Christ!" What really caught Eric's attention was the blood trail that led to the ant queen's lair. He took a couple steps forward and saw Lesko's arm lying limp on the ground. "LESKO!" When he managed to get a clear view of Lesko he turned pail at the sight in front of him. Lesko's arm was there, but the rest of him was nothing more than remains of flesh. He used all of his strength to keep himself from vomiting. _'God in heaven.'_

His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of Butch's voice. "Hey Eric. There's a note here. It's got your name on it."

Eric walked over and snatched the piece of paper from Butch's hand and read it over.

_Eric,_

_I don't have much time left so I'll explain to you what I've discovered. A month ago, after performing several more tests. I finally found it! I found a way to return the ants to their original state. It takes at least 24 hours for them to fully return to their small size. I was about ready to pack up my lab and move on somewhere else, when something bizarre happened. The queen ant's eggs hatched and a new breed of fire ant was born and the flames they breathe manage to burn through the toughest of metals, including power armor. This event happened about a week ago, so I thought I'd try and find a way to resolve this situation and put a stop to them, before a second Grayditch massacre could occur. I went down to the queen ant's hatchery with my gun and shot the queen in the head, severely damaging her antennas. Then the most peculiar thing happened. All of her ants went into a frenzied state and started attacking each other, but they seemed to be immune to fire. Then they all turned to me and chased me back into my lab. I managed to seal them out, but the doors won't be able to hold them off forever, so please listen to me. There is a safe underneath my mattress, it contains the vials and the list of things needed to make more of the ant size reduction formula. The combination is 13-26-11. Keep it safe and put it to good use. They're almost inside. Thank you again Eric for all the help you have provided me with over the past couple years. Goodbye and good luck._

_Signed,_

_Doctor Weston Lesko_

Eric sighed and set the piece of paper down, knowing what he had to do next. He pulled out his M-16 and loaded a fresh magazine into the rifle, then turned to the others. "Guys, go join the others. I've got some unfinished business to tend to." He looked down and saw Dogmeat pawing at his leg. Eric patted the dog on the head, "Don't worry buddy, I won't be long." He looked up at the group. "Anyone got any explosives?" He asked.

Jericho already knew what Eric was planning so he pulled out a frag grenade and tossed it to him. "You better make it count kid!" The former raider told him sternly.

Eric nodded and made his way towards the hatchery while the others went back the way they came.

Once he saw the ant queen, he thought he was going to have a heart attack. The queen looked like it doubled in size and was spewing acid everywhere. "Great. Things just keep getting more complicated." He pulled out the grenade Jericho gave to him, pulled the pin and hoped for the best. The queen turned to him and howled in a high pitch roar. "That's right. Open wide you son of a bitch!" He releases the safety spoon and tossed the grenade into the ant's mandibles. A few seconds later, the queen ant's head is decapitated in a fiery explosion. Eric looked around to see the remaining fire ants rip each other apart.

Eric sighed with relief, knowing that the threat of the fire ants was finally over. Making his way back to others, he remembered about Lesko's formula and immediately unlocked it to find a briefcase containing the contents needed to reduce the size of the mutant insects. He took the case and dashed out of the tunnels to regroup with Amata and the others. The thought of his closest childhood friend made him come to a sudden halt. How will the vault residents be able to make a life out here? Since Vault 101 was compromised and the Capital Wasteland was under siege, there was no place safe for them to settle down. Eric had to think about that later, right now he had to make sure they would make it to the Purifier alive.

**Regulator HQ: June 9, 2279. 4:48 A.M.**

The law bringers of the wasteland were ready to meet up with the caravan's heading for the Purifier. More than half of their forces were killed protecting the northwestern part of the Capital Wasteland. With only thirty men left, Sonora Cruz was in a tight spot. She got on the radio and told all surviving Regulators to regroup at their HQ and then head get to the only safe zone left in the wastes. The only problem was they weren't even going to make it out the front door.

Ten power armored soldiers all surrounded the HQ wielding miniguns and missile launchers. Once they were in position, the commander gave the order and the minigunners unleashed a devastating barrage of bullets on the HQ. When they needed to reload, one of the soldiers fired a missile into the front door, blasting a massive hole into the building. They all started pouring inside one by one. The sight of dead and wounded Regulators littered the first floor and the staircase. One Regulator came staggering out from upstairs, bleeding profusely from the bullet wounds in his chest. The commander pulled out a plasma pistol and aimed it at the injured man.

"NO. PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO!" The Regulator shouted before being silenced by the commander's sidearm.

The commander looked around at the dead then back to his men. "Check the bodies. If any of them are still breathing, put a round in their head!"

"YES SIR!" The soldiers chorused.

The commander went upstairs and into the bedroom to find Sonora Cruz fighting to stay alive from the wounds she sustained. He chuckled at how weak she looked. "You know what? I find this all very hilarious." Sonora raised an eyebrow at the commander. "Locals like you try to bring law and order to this hellhole you call a wasteland." His tone went dead serious. "Weak, pathetic little insects like you. How disgusting!" He sneered at her.

Sonora mustered up what was left of her strength to put a smile on her face and say her final words. "Go fuck yourself."

The commander aimed his plasma pistol between Sonora's eyes and fired. "You first!" He stood up and holstered his sidearm. The sounds of guns executing the wounded Regulators could be heard. He made his back downstairs and his radio officer looked to him.

"Sir, Independence wants an update." He told the commander.

The commander took the radio from him and raised it to his ear. "This is Warrior One. Mission accomplished. The Regulators are no longer a problem."

"_Job well done Warrior One. Report back here to Independence we have another task for you."_

"Yes sir, on our way."

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**Sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the others everyone. Look at the bright side though. We are one chapter away from finding out who the power armored soldiers are really working for, and a sneak peak into the military base that Eric will travel to for help later on. Again I'm sorry that I haven't gotten this chapter up sooner. But tell me what you thought about it. Like, review, whatever you want to do.  
Thanks for reading. NCRMC signing off for now.**


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